A Slayer In Shreveport, Part Two
by krynny su
Summary: Buffy's life in Shreveport has been mostly uneventful since she came to be with Eric. Well, until now that is. Buffy/Eric. **Sequel to my 'A Slayer in Shreveport' so you should probably read that first! : **NOW COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer/AN:**

Okay, where to start? This is set four years after the end of 'A Slayer in Shreveport'. The shifters just came out. I've read almost all the books now, woo!, so that should help a bit. _(I'm currently in the middle of 'Dead in the Family' and I've been on a dumb waiting list for 'Dead Reckoning' for a month now, so hopefully I'll get that soon!)_

I'm planning on mixing some things from the show, some things from the books and some just from my pure amazing I'm not really setting this at one specific point, True imagination. Blood wise. It would just get way too confusing. I'm planning on mixing in different things from all the books plus the show , like I said, so if any of ya'll get confused, just ask away and I'll try my best to explain! I think it's largely going to be from Buffy's POV, but if I decide to change it at all, I'll mark it. Oh, and I don't own Buffy/the Onto Sookie Stackhouse novels/True Blood. You know who they belong to. Onto chapter one!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

I hadn't seen Hank in, well, years honestly.

The last time I saw him was the summer that Dawn and I had spent with him in LA, after I defeated the Master. I was sixteen then, just about to turn seventeen. Dawn was twelve.

Well, actually, Dawn wasn't really even there. She's my sister alright, just only in the memory department. She's actually a giant ball of energy. It's a long story.

So you can really imagine my surprise when Pam burst into Eric's office, announcing Hank's arrival.

It was early still. Fangtasia wouldn't open to customers for another three hours. I had already been in Eric's office when he arrived, just after sunset, getting some of the paperwork done. One thing had led to another and well, uh, let's just say…..when Pam came bursting through the door, it was a pretty awkward situation. For me, anyway.

"Pam! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" I asked, scrambling around for my ditched clothing.

Eric just smiled. It was fang-y, due to our, ah, previous actions.

"Well, there's a man out here that says he's your father. I thought you'd like to know."

You know the phrase _'like a deer in headlights'_? Well, that was me.

"Buffy? Is something wrong?" Eric asked. I assumed he was feeling my surge of randomized emotions.

Eric and I have a blood bond. That is, we've shared blood on three separate occasions, bonding us together. So we can feel each other's emotions. Again, it's a long story.

I had never properly explained to Eric, or, well, anyone here, about my dad. Er, Hank. Not even my current closest friend, Sookie Stackhouse.

Sookie was my age. We both had an affinity for the sun. We even looked fairly similar. Well, except that she was blonder. And more, um, er…buxom. And she was quite a bit taller than me. But then again, who isn't taller than me? It's a little ridiculous sleeping in the same bed with Eric, on account of his height.

Sookie lived in the neighboring town of Bon Temps. The first time I'd met her, she had come in to Fangtasia with her then vampire-y boyfriend, Bill Compton.

I'd liked Sookie from the start. She wasn't afraid of Eric, like everyone else seemed to be and, rightfully so, I guess. She talked back to him just as much as I did. Oh, also, she was a telepath. I told her about my two day foray into mind reading and we instantly bonded. She could read tiny bits of my mind, but not a whole lot. It took her a whole lot of hard work and patience to get just a few words picked out of my brain, the one day we tried. Mostly, we just tried to save that for emergencies.

Mr. Compton was a different story, however. From the second we'd been introduced, I'd known what an a-hole he really was. I mean, besides the obvious vampire-Slayer feelings, there was just something off about him and his affections towards Sookie. I felt an almost immediate urge to protect her. It was very…sisterly. Like how I felt about protecting Dawn.

Later that night, er, morning, in our private chambers, I told Eric of my suspicions over Bill. He'd had them investigated and a few months later, we found out the mega, ultra grand-daddy secret of them all. The current vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne, had ordered Bill, her procurer, to find Sookie and bring her to her. Sookie's part fairy, you see, so her blood is like, uber special or something. I'm not entirely sure. I told Eric to leave that part of the details off. I didn't really need to know.

I drove over to Bon Temps later that evening and one heartfelt-sob-infested convo later, Sookie was stomping over to Bill's. She dumped that loser, in his own house, might I add, and now Bill really hated Eric and I, a whole lot more than he had before.

But I digress. I've gone _way_ off topic. Where were we? Oh. Right. Hank. Speaking of losers.

I scrambled around Eric's office, pulling my clothes on.

"Are you sure he said 'father'?" I asked Pam, as I pulled my black skinnies on.

"Actually he said 'Hank Summers' and I just put two-and-two together." Pam responded dryly.

I pulled my shiny red tank top over my head. I ran over to the mirror and started smoothing out my wrinkly hair.

"Do you want me to come with you, lover?" Eric asked.

"I'd say 'no, it's fine' but I know that you're just going to follow me out anyway."

I could see Eric's still fang-y grin in the mirror. Something definitely foreign to me. Vampires that have reflections.

"Besides, I don't even know what he wants. For all I know, he could've seen the errors of his ways and he's come to apologize for his lack of fathering." I added.

Eric and Pam both raised their eyebrows, in unison.

I turned away from the mirror. "Yeah, okay, no. That's probably not the reason. You're right. How do I look?"

Eric's eyes lit up. Figuratively, of course.

"Absolutely ravishing, lover."

"Delicious." Pam said. Her fangs clicked out.

I smiled and shook my head, laughing as I walked out of the office.

"Oh, Pam. You certainly always know how to make things awkward."

* * *

><p>Hank was sitting at the bar, nervously fidgeting with his hands.<p>

I had a brief moment where I wished my telepathic BFF was here to tell me what he was thinking before I dove in.

Eric eyed me curiously, but didn't say anything.

It took me a few seconds before I could address him. I definitely didn't want to call him 'dad' but I wasn't sure how 'Hank' would go over either. I decided in the end, that I just didn't really care that much and I settled for clearing my throat, loudly.

He turned, saw me, smiled, stood up, saw Eric and then grimaced.

He reluctantly walked forward, towards us. He reached out to me, like he was expecting a hug or something.

Pfffft. Yeah, okay. Not.

I stepped back, out of his reach.

We stood silent for a moment, or thirty, until I just couldn't stand the awkwardness anymore.

I folded my arms across my chest. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to introduce your friends?" he asked with the slightest resemblance of politeness.

AKA making me aware of my lack of.

I sighed. "Yeah, sure. Why not. That's Pam and that's Eric." I said, motioning behind me. "This is my fa—Hank. My mother's ex-husband."

"I'm Buffy's father." he said, sharply. He stepped forward and stuck his hand out for Eric to shake.

My eyes widened. Vampires don't shake hands. Especially with humans. Especially with humans that their lovers aren't really fond of.

But, to mine (and Pam's) surprise, Eric grasped Hank's hand and gave it a quick shake.

It lasted all of five seconds, however, my brain processed it at being much much longer.

At this point, Eric excused himself and Pam away. They walked over and stood at the bar by Felicia, the new bartender. After a brief second, Felicia flitted away from the bar, leaving just Eric, Pam, Hank and myself.

I turned my attention back to the present situation.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, yet again.

"A father can't come visit his daughter?"

"It's been nearly a decade since I've seen you last."

"I—"

"Let me guess, you were busy?"

"Buffy—"

"Have you contacted Dawn at all?"

"Yes, I have. I actually just came from seeing her. How do you think I found you? You're not exactly the easiest person to track down. Curiously, there are all kinds of odd…things attached to your name."

For a reason. I thought. A few years ago, after all the business with Nan, Eric had brought Special Agent Finn and Finn in. They promised their lives to Eric that I would be near untraceable. I'm honestly not at all sure why I had to be untraceable. I had gone to ask Eric on several different occasions, but I always thought better of it and shut my mouth. With Eric, it's usually best to always ask yourself _'Do I really want to know?'_. My answer usually was no. No I do not.

"Yeah, I've got friends in high places." I answered.

"After the earthquake in Sunnydale, I started searching for you, Dawn and you mother."

"Why?" I asked, shocked.

"To make sure you were safe, of course. That, and I figured that you would all most likely need a place to stay. And somewhere for Dawn to finish school."

I choked back laughter. "Well, jeez louise. Aren't you just ever so charitable?" I asked, mockingly.

"I didn't think it was safe for you girls to be alone after something so traumatic. Especially with this whole Great Revelation/Great Reveal thing."

Ah. So this is what this was about. Daddy was scared that his little girls wouldn't be safe with the big bad vamps and shifters.

Oh, pleeease. Cry me a flippin' river.

"So you decide to look for us, a year and a half AFTER The Great Revelation?"

"Yes, but—"

"It's been five years since The Great Revelation. Four since the…'earthquake' in Sunnydale. Why are you just finding me now?"

The shifters had just come out not too long ago, so I didn't really feel inclined to include them into this current argument.

"As I said, darling, you're not the easiest person to track down. I had to go through more security clearances than I even knew existed. And I went through them all. Until I got to someone that said he knew you. He ran several background check-type things and finally, he issued Dawn's location to me. He seemed a little too nervous to give me your direct address. Dawn told me where to find you."

Damn it, Riley. He and I were going to have one long, painful talk. I could tell that Eric felt my anger because I'm pretty sure I saw him grin when I thought about punching out Riley. And, of course, my pain in the ass little sister was going to get one stern yelling at. Of all people, I would not have expected it to be Dawnie. She knew how I felt about Hank because she felt the same damn way. Especially after Mom.

Hank interrupted my flow of thought by opening his stupid mouth. "I thought you might be in some kind of trouble. I saw-"

"The anti-Slayer ads that the AVL put out." I said, finishing his sentence.

Five years ago, I killed one of Nan Flanagan's personal assistants. Apparently, she was fond of him. _Really_ fond of him. She vowed all kinds of revenge when I came back to Eric's after the First, and that was a full year after I'd dusted the vamp in question. She put all kinds of anti-Slayer ads out. On television, posters, magazine ads. My face, along with some of the faces of my junior Slayerettes aka the potentials, and Faith. Needless to say….they weren't very happy with me. Well, mostly. Faith didn't really care. She still talked to me, occasionally dropping the odd postcard every now and again.

"I don't understand." Hank said, after a few minutes.

I sighed and shook my head. Everyone else knew my 'secret' now, so why not dear old Dad?

"Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl, in all the world…wait, no. You don't get the special 'Giles textbook' explanation. You don't deserve it. Not one bit."

"Buffy, I—"

"A Slayer kills vampires, demons and other assorted monsters. I'm a Slayer. End of story."

Well, not really 'end of story.' I had this whole long story to go with it, like how I'm the longest running Slayer ever and oh, hey, I'm also not the only Slayer in the world anymore, thanks to Willow, but I didn't really feel the need to get into all that. Not with him, anyway. Besides, he seemed stuck on the vampires half anyway.

"You kill vampires. You.." he said, skeptically.

"And demons. And other….things….that go bump in the night. Well. Okay. No. I technically can't kill vampires anymore because of the whole law against it. Unless they are posing a serious threat to me or someone else near me. And, in that case, I think I could come out on top because of my in with the Queen. And because of Eric's Sheriff-yness. And our blood bond."

He completely skipped over that whole ramble of mine and settled on "How do you kill vampires?"

I stared at him in sheer astonishment. "Uh, I'm not going to give you a detailed manual on it."

He shook his head and walked closer to me. "No, I mean, you're just a girl. It's impossible. I've had a few vampire clients and their strength alone…"

"I'm just as strong." I said, through clenched teeth.

"Buffy, this Slayer thing is just a silly fairytale. It's all propaganda. They told me that. It's all in your head. Probably encouraged by your mother."

My jaw literally dropped. I didn't know what to say. Except that Hank was in dire need of some padded walls and medication. I stole a quick glance towards Eric and Pam.

I couldn't see Eric's face, as his back was turned to me now, but I noticed that he was standing very still. Very rigid. I could feel his genuine surprise-and anger-at my father's treatment of me, as a fragile little girl. I heard a small crack and realized that Eric had been clenching onto the bar so hard, that he reduced a piece of it to splinters.

Pam was unsuccessfully trying to contain laughter. At what, I'm not sure. Her sense of humour isn't exactly normal.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I shook myself out of my daze.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I'm very serious. Barbi and I have a very dear friend that works in mental therapy. She's made a few phone calls and he's willing to see you on short notice. You just have to come back to Los Angeles with me."

I didn't even know what to say. I wasn't at all expecting the fantasy father/daughter scenario that I had spieled off to Eric and Pam, but I wasn't exactly expecting this either.

My father was trying to have me committed, based on a series of commercials he saw, that an enemy had run against me.

Four years ago.

My head was seriously spinning.

"So, let me get this straight. You want me to come back to Los Angeles with you, to see some doctor, because you think I'm insane. And you're basing my insanity on a series of anti-Slayer ads that were run against me."

"I don't think you're insane, sweetie. I just think you tend to run with bad crowds. You always have. And somehow, this…crowd you're running with now, they have you believing that you're some kind of superhero. Barbi and I talked about it some with Dr. Van Clausen and he seems to think that it's a jealousy factor over Dawn, because she's the youngest, and then leading into when your mother and I got divorced. It doesn't help that this vampire revelation, and now consequently the Great Reveal, is probably fueling your imagination."

I put my hand up to stop his mouth from moving. I could tell that Eric was a pin drop away from ripping Hank to shreds, literally, and I wanted to avoid that. I think. Maybe.

"Okay, first of all, don't call me cute little girl pet names. _Real_ fathers do that. Not deadbeats that can't be bothered to pick up a god damn phone once in ten years. Second-don't you dare talk about Dawn and I with that…that…whore you left Mom for. Third- I'm **so** not jealous over Dawn. I love her more than anything in my life. For the last six years, it's just been me and her. You have no idea the things I've done for her. What I've sacrificed. Four- I don't run with 'bad crowds'. You have absolutely no clue who I am. You most certainly have no right to judge me based on my circle of friends, that you don't even know, might I add. Yeah, I associate with vampires. It's kind of a job related thing. I also associate with witches. Shifters. Telepaths. I work in a vampire bar. And, oh, hey! Big shock! See Eric over there? We're dating. No, not 'dating'. More than that. Lovers. Actually, more than that as well. If it were legal for vampires and humans to marry, I'd marry him in a non-existent heartbeat!"

I sucked in several mouthfuls of air, knowing somewhere in the back of my mind that my little rant kind of lost the sense-making it started out with. But, whatever. I just didn't care. Hank didn't even seem to notice, though. He was stuck on the last sentence.

"Marriage is a serious commitment, Buffy."

I laughed a dry, humourless laugh. "You, of all people, have no right to be lecturing me on marriages."

"What could that soulless creature ever give you?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about his undying love? The fact that he would, and has, done anything and everything for me?"

"He can't give you children."

"Newsflash to you, Captain Delusional. Slayers don't breed. Often. So not having kids really isn't a big loss for me."

"And what of your mother? You are willing to deny her the privilege of grandchildren?"

I skipped over the obvious part where he was convieniently forgetting Dawn and settled on a sudden thought that floated through my mind.

"You have no idea, do you? About Mom?"

His curiosity won out. "What about her?"

"She's dead."

* * *

><p>It was several minutes before he spoke again.<p>

"How?" he asked, somberly.

"She was sick. Really sick. She had a tumor in her brain. They took it out and she was fine for a while. But then an aneurysm formed and consequently burst. I found her on the sofa."

"Why didn't you call?"

My sadness over remembering my mother's lifeless body on the sofa dispersed and was quickly replaced with bubbling anger.

I would've liked to blame the current anger on Eric, but I knew that I couldn't. He had never known my mother, except from my stories, so the boiling acid that was bubbling away inside me was all mine.

"I did call! I called all over the place looking for you! I called literally every single number I had for you for four days straight. I left messages with everyone, everywhere. So really, the question is, why didn't YOU call?"

I stopped, mid-rant, and took a deep breath.

"You know what? You're not even worth it. Not. At. All. I want you to leave. Not just Fangtasia, but the state. I don't want you coming near Dawn, nor I. I don't ever want to see you again. Never. Again. Do I make myself clear?"

"I just want what's best for you. The both of you! You're living your lives immorally. She's with that...shifter and you're invested in the vampire scene….it's just all wrong! You're going to end up dead, the both of you!"

I snorted. "Judging by the suit you're wearing, I'd say you've got some money. Don't skimp on the funeral flowers. I'll know."

"BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS! I'm serious. We're going to get your sister from that backwater town she's living in and you're both coming home with me! I'm trying to save you from damnation!"

He latched his hands onto my arm. It only took Eric a fraction of a second to fill up the space in between us. He grabbed Hank's hands, removed them from my arms and held them, very tightly, in his.

"Enough of this. Buffy has told you her feelings. Leave. Now."

Eric's anger flashed through me, once again. You could say (almost) anything to me and get away with it, but the second someone laid their hands on me….yikes. He was a bit possessive that way.

Normally, there's no way in Hell that I'd put up with that crap, but there was something different about the way Eric's…possessiveness felt. He was the way he was because he loved me and it would tear him apart if he lost me, in any way, shape or form.

My mind was brought back to the present by Hank yelling some very unfriendly, derogatory vampified insults at Eric.

I heard Eric's fangs click.

"I'd be very careful while insulting me, Mr. Summers. I'm over twenty times your age and very powerful. I could make you and your current family's lives very hard."

"Your threats don't scare me. I'm taking my daughter home with me. Now move."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Pam yelled. She sauntered over from the bar and up to Hank. She pushed Eric out of the way and grabbed Hank by the chin, gazing into his eyes.

"Hank, can you hear me?" she cooed.

He nodded.

"Great. Now listen and listen good because I'm only going to tell you this once. Buffy and Dawn Summers do not exist. They are not your daughters. In fact, you've never even heard of them. You have no idea who they are. Their names are meaningless to you. Your first wife, Joyce, she died before you two even had a chance to have any children at all. Do you understand?"

He nodded.

"Good. Now snap out of it. I've got stuff to do."

Pam let go of Hank and he seemed to clear up out of his little trance.

He looked around, nervously.

"Uh, excuse me. Where am I?"

I walked past Eric. "You got lost. You needed directions back to the airport." I said.

"Oh. Right. Well, thanks then, Miss…what was it?"

"Northman. Mrs. Northman." Eric replied, with a quick grin.

"Mrs. Northman. Thank you again."

With that, Hank Summers walked out of Fangtasia, and my life, forever.

And I was okay with it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I'm more or less in Fangtasia for the entire day. Since Eric had made me his day manager for the place, that meant that I had to be there bright and early to receive our regular shipments of booze, blood, merchandise and so on. I had to supervise when the cleaning crews came in to make sure that they wouldn't be searching through things they ought not to be. And paperwork.

Holy Jesus in Heaven was there paperwork.

I honestly don't even know what I'm filling out some days. Orders for this, orders for that, book keeping, payroll, new hires, old hires….bugh.

I generally tend to end up staying throughout the night too. I'll occasionally fill in if one of the human staff gets sick, or if one of the bartenders gets staked. Which has seemingly happened a lot lately. And no, it wasn't me, on any of the accounts.

Of course there are some nights when I would much rather not be in Fangtasia at all, so those are usually the nights when I go hang out with Sookie or Dawn, if they are available. Unless she's working at Merlotte's, Sookie's usually more available than Dawn, which is why we've become such close friends over the last four years, I think.

Or it could be that we've both been considered freaks for much of our lives.

Though, if I weren't at Fangtasia nearly 24/7, I'd probably never see Eric. Usually, we'll just sit in a corner booth together, unless he's got to be up on his stupid podium.

I understand Eric's job real well, trust me. A few times a week, he's got to sit out in plain sight, so the touristy's see him and go 'Ooh!', 'Ahh!' and 'Look dad, it's a real vampire!' and then they'll buy more drinks from the bar or more merch and then Eric makes more money, which I get to spend on frivolous shopping trips with my sister and Sookie. I get it. I don't even mind, most of the time, because of said shopping trips.

The problems occur when the fang-banging skanks come lurking around, from their dark corners, with their disgustingly visible ribcages and their teeny tiny skirts, acting all cute and innocent, which might be believable for about, oh, I don't know, two seconds, which is when you notice all the different bite marks. Not to mention, a considerable amount of them are just looking to score some blood from one of the oldest, er, 'living', vampires in the area.

Yeah, no.

In the last four years, that blood has only ever gone to three people. Sookie, Dawn and myself. And it's only been in seriously dire consequences of us being severely injured. Needless to say, his blood is worth more than your house, your car, your significant other's car and both of your salaries for fifteen years.

I've gone off topic again. Oops. Sorry.

One of the human staff, Elvira I think she calls herself, I don't really remember, had called off so I was attempting at filling in her duties of slinging drinks to tables. Stupid black vampire-fantasies-dress and all. I was in such a dark mood from the episode with Hank earlier in the evening, though, that I didn't even pay one bit of attention to the idiotic dress code.

The waitressing game wasn't working out too well at all, either, on account of my mood. One drunken man, about twenty-nine or so, slapped me right on the ass as I walked by. I grabbed his hand and snapped it back. I didn't break it, but it was close.

Eric and Pam were by our side in less than a second. Pam escorted the drunken idiot out of the building, mostly because I think if Eric had, the guy would've been dead, and Eric escorted me off the main floor. I attempted at apologizing but he put his hand over my mouth and told me it wasn't necessary and that the idiot was lucky it was I who dealt with him instead of Eric himself.

Told you so.

* * *

><p>The basement of Fangtasia could be considered creepy, I guess. Mostly, to me, it was just where all my training stuff was currently located.<p>

Since I wasn't technically allowed to patrol anymore, for vampires anyway, Eric had set up a nice little training area for me to burn off all my extra energy.

It was rarely used, however, as he always found other ways that burned my energy off much better with a lot more satisfying results, on both ends.

Tonight was the exception. I punched the dummy repeatedly, loud music pumping from my tiny little earphones.

I was so invested in the loud music flowing through my ear canals and pummeling the dummy that I just reacted when I felt hands on my shoulders. I grabbed the assailants arms and flung him over the top of me, onto the floor.

Eric looked up at me. His fangs had clicked out in the momentary excitement. I pulled my earphones out and bent down over him.

"Ooh. Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Buffy? Is that you?"

"Yeah, of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

"Can't see….lights fading…"

I rolled my eyes, shook my head and stood up, walking away from him.

"You know, for being as old as you are, you're kind of a really bad actor."

He whipped up and was standing before I could blink once.

"Really? I thought I was…enchanting. Very dramatic."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course you did. You love you."

He smiled. "But I love you as well."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said, smiling.

His face darkened a little and I knew we were going for a subject change.

I turned away from him and focused on unwrapping the tape from my hands.

"Are you alright?"

Pffft. As if he didn't know how I felt. My hands were getting fidgety as I thought up a suitable response. It made getting the tape off just that much harder.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Great. Never been better. Why do you ask?"

"Buffy."

I sighed heavily and gave up on the tape. Eric placed his hands on my shoulders and gently turned me around, taking my hands in his. He ripped through the tape with ease and tossed it on the floor. He stared down at me. His crystal blue eyes felt like they could possibly bore holes in me, if he stared long enough.

"Do you trust me?" he asked after an awkward silent minute, completely surprising me.

"Yeah, of course. It's just….I have mixed feelings, I guess."

"Explain."

"While my father was in fact a low-life deadbeat that couldn't be bothered to deal with his children...he's still my father, you know? The only one I'll ever have, biologically. I guess I just had a small glimmer of hope left in me when Pam said he was here and he completely destroyed that by going all psycho."

"I wish he were dead." Eric said, gravely.

"Eric!"

"Well, it is true. He's hurt you so much. Anyone that can hurt you that much shouldn't be allowed to live."

I pondered over that thought for a fraction of a minute, wishing that Eric had been around when I was having all the trouble with Angelus. Well, he was, technically, around, just not around me.

I shook my head and tried to get my thoughts back on track.

"While I appreciate that immensely generous offer, and I'll seriously put it on the back burner for future…occurrences…you can't just go killing people because they've hurt me."

"I can and I would, but I know it will upset you so I don't." he said, matter-of-factly.

"Well, in that case," I said, rolling my eyes. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't. That would be one long list of people and non-people that you'd be going after. I would only have a handful of friends left."

Not that that would be a problem. My supposed 'best friends', Willow and Xander, didn't talk to me anymore. Giles either. Willow and Xander came to visit once, about three years ago. They came at kind of a tumultuous time, though, and they didn't necessarily like what they saw. It's far too complicated a story to tell in the middle of another one, but let's just say it involved Eric, the vampire king of Mississippi, Sookie's fairy blood, Eric playing a rather evil role and some day-walking. I, of course, had known the plan from the beginning.

Willow and Xander did not.

Nor would they even let me try to explain it to them when I actually had a chance to. At least Sookie was willing to listen. I mean, she still rescinded Eric's invitation from her house and she refused to see me for a good four months, but she listened. And later accepted my apology.

Again, Willow and Xander did not. Instead, they ran right back to Scotland and told Giles everything. He was just as un-pleased about the whole situation as they were. There was a crazy big Trans-Atlantic telephone call-argument where they had accused me of 'changing', and not for the better. It ended when I broke Eric's office phone in frustration and anger. And a lot of brutal tears. And Eric vowing that he would never let them in my life again, if that's how they felt about me. Especially after all that I had done for them.

It was logic that I couldn't argue with. I mean, really, none of them would be in their big head honcho shoes if it weren't for me in the first place!

Okay, now I'm just ranting. Sorry, again.

Eric looked at me curiously. I'm not sure if it was my statement or my randomized surge of emotions I was having for my former friends.

I took a leap of faith (no pun intended) and went for the emotions.

"It's the same concept as with my father. Yes, they did something awful and terrible to me and they hurt me, a lot. And I hate them for how they reacted and I hate them for not giving me a chance to explain how things work now. But at the same time…..I miss them. We all shared so much…happiness and tragedy and I mean, if it wasn't for Willow, I wouldn't even be here. Twice. I just don't understand why they can't be happy for me. Be happy that I'm happy."

I sighed heavily and Eric pulled me to him. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head into his shoulder. Well, shoulder region. He's really tall. And I'm not.

I pulled away after a few moments, feeling better. A little more refreshed, emotionally. Being near Eric always did that. I'm suspecting it's the whole bond thing, but, hey, you never know.

"I think I'm going to go home and get some sleep.….unless you want to come home too, seeing as how we were so rudely interrupted before."

He smirked. "I would love to, but—"

"Oh, right. It's your night to be Fantasy Vamp. I forgot."

"I'm 'Fantasy Vamp' every night." he smiled.

I nodded. "Yeah, for some."

"And you, lover?"

"Well, you've, somehow managed to keep me firmly placed at your feet for the last four years. I think we're pretty much over the 'fantasy' stage."

"You told your father you would marry me, if it was legal to do so."

I winced. I figured this would come back to haunt me. I didn't have an automatic response or snappy come back, for once, so I just nodded.

"Would you? Or was that just something you said to make daddy mad?" His accent was a little more pronounced by the end of that sentence.

"Yes." I said, answering immediately. "I meant it, I mean, the marriage part. I like my life here. Everyday isn't a crisis. I mean, there certainly have been weeks where everyday was like that, but it's not consistent. I can breathe. And I've found that I kinda like this whole 'Buffy's not in charge' thing. Oh, and well, I suppose I love you." I smiled.  
>He grinned. It was his mischievous one. His smiles always had different layers to them. Always.<p>

"Well, that's very good to know. Go home. Get some sleep. I'll wake you when I return."

He kissed me on the forehead and pushed me towards the door back upstairs.

I turned back and jumped up. He caught me effortlessly. We kissed for a very long, yet very short, few minutes. He set me back down and shooed me off towards the door, with a large grin settling on his face.

"Oh, and, lover, please try not to break anymore of the patron's bones on your way out. It's getting costly."

* * *

><p>I woke up later than normal the next day, about eleven. Thankfully, it was Saturday and I really didn't have any Fangtasia duties to perform. Well, none that couldn't wait till tomorrow at least.<p>

It felt nice to sleep in for once.

Eric had the tendency to keep me up late late late. He didn't exactly tend to think about the fact that I had to be at the bar in the morning too. Though, I can't really blame him. Well, yes, actually, I can. If it wasn't for the fact that I can never seem to tear myself away from him, I'd probably get a lot more sleep.

Eric was dead to the world (almost literally) next to me, in our windowless bedroom. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek as I got out of bed.

I scrambled throughout our, er, my kitchen for some quick breakfast while making a mental checklist of things that needed to get done today.

Step one was to call Riley. Well, I couldn't actually call him, due to his super top secretiveness, but I had a number.

I pulled my phone out from the charger on the kitchen counter and dialed. When prompted, I entered the super secret code that I had. A button beeped immediately.

"This is Buffy Summers….I need to get in touch with Agent Riley Finn or Agent Samantha Finn. Thanks."

Message delivered. I hung up and set my phone back down, replacing it with a bowl of cereal.

Step two was to go to Bon Temps and have a little chat with my dearest Dawnie Poo. I could just call her, goodness knows it certainly would be easier, but if I called her, she could hang up on me. Or just not answer. Face to face was much better with her. Plus, I could visit with Sookie. It'd been a few weeks since I had seen her and I was finding that I missed her. Possibly a little more so than Dawn at this point, but I knew that was just my anger talking.

I downed my cereal and was about to go off to take a shower, when I noticed a small package sitting on the opposite counter. There was a note tapped to it.

_'I didn't bother to wake you, lover. You were sleeping too peacefully. When you come into Fangtasia tonight, bring this with you. When I ask for it, hand it to me. Dress formal.' _

'This' was a medium sized black velvet bag. It was heavy, but not too heavy, thanks to my freakish strength. I was tempted to look and see what it was, but, in the end I decided against it. It was probably some dumb vampire affair thing. I just shrugged it off and headed for the shower.

About forty minutes later, I was ready to go. It was a seemingly hot day so I was happy in my decision to don some simple, plain old denim shorts and a tank top. I pulled a nice dress out of my closet and zipped it up in a garment bag. I figured that I could just change my clothes at Sookie's before heading into Fangtasia for the night, seeing as how Eric requested that I dress nice. I pulled my hair into a lazy ponytail and was out the door.

Bon Temps wasn't too far from Shreveport, about an hour or so. The sunshine was really influencing my mood today. As I was driving down the interstate, I found myself happily singing along to the radio, my dark mood of the previous night floating away.

Soon, I was pulling into Merlotte's Bar & Grill. It was Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. I noticed Sookie's car parked towards the back. I got out and walked into the bar. A lot of eyes were focused on me for a minute and then they returned to whatever it is they were doing before I had walked in. Three pairs of eyes remained, though.

Pair number one belonged to Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's older brother. He'd tried his little fairy charms on me once before but I'd quickly put a stop to it by squeezing his hand a little too tight. And then Sookie told him that I was dating Eric and Jason appropriately backed off. Jason used to be addicted to V and as Sheriff of this current area, Eric knew that. Jason took the dangerous hint well.

He also went through a small stint in the Fellowship. When I had learned that he had been sucked into the looney bin, I completely devoted all my time to helping Sookie get him out. We finally concocted an amazing plan. Phone calls weren't allowed during 'training camp'. Since I had a feeling that I probably wasn't welcome in Dallas anymore (thankfully), Sam drove over to the Fellowship and told Jason that it was very urgent that he come home. We had falsified a story that Sookie had been hurt by the vampires and was in the hospital. The good Reverend (HA) had to let Jason go, after all Sookie is his only family!

As soon as Sam pulled into Sookie's driveway, Dawn and I ambushed Jason. I'll skip the details, but after a few hours we finally got Jason to see how wrong the Fellowship actually was. Of course, the Fellowship called to check in and the plan kinda got blown up a bit when Sookie answered Jason's phone. Steve showed up promptly, for being so far away, ready to take Jason back. However, Jason refused. Steve threatened. And then I stepped out from the crowd, with Dawnie behind me. Good ol' Steve's eyes widened with recognition and he quickly left.

Now that Jason was a were-panther, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't be welcomed back at the Fellowship anyway, even if he wanted to rejoin.

Pair number two belonged to Arlene, one of the waitresses at Merlotte's. Her hair was what Dawn and I liked to privately refer to as 'plastic cup red'. Speaking of the looney bin, she had been recently dating a man that belonged to the Fellowship. She used to be one of Sookie's best friends and now she hated her because she associated with the vamps.

So you can imagine what she thought of me. She glared at me as soon as I stepped in. I replied by smiling sweetly. Kill 'em with kindness, you know?

The third pair of eyes belonged to Sookie. She smiled brightly and walked out from behind the bar to grasp me in a sisterly hug, which made Arlene grimace just as much. I had a fleeting thought of something Mom used to say about your face sticking that way and I heard Sookie quietly hide a laugh. I was momentarily confused and then quickly remembered her gift. It's really odd how you can forget something so special.

"It's real good to see you, Buffy." Sookie said, releasing me from our hug. "You want some lunch?"

"Nah, I just ate before I left Shreveport." I smiled.

Sookie smiled back. "Well, go on and have a seat somewhere and as soon as it slows down we'll catch up a bit."

Sookie walked off to check her tables and I sat down at the bar.

"Well look at what the cat drug in."

I lifted my head to see Sam walking out from the back.

Sam was the owner of Merlotte's. He was taller than me, but again, who isn't? He had wiry reddish/blondish hair and was just a few years older than me. I'd say around thirty. He was a pure shifter, which meant that he could change into any kind of animal that he fancied, as long as he'd seen it before. Or something like that. I'm not quite sure on all the specifics.

Before starting my life here, I hadn't been aware of anything beyond that of the werewolf that Oz used to turn into three nights a month. Apparently, that's a hybrid of the original wolf. Aka, he was bitten and not born. I think. I don't know. I have too much on my plate trying to keep up on Vampire politics. If I threw in Were politics, my head would probably spin right off. The Weres are Dawn's area, not mine.

Oh, yeah, Sam and Dawn are dating. Well, more than dating actually. They were a bonafide item. They have been together going on two years and I couldn't be happier for them.

I smiled. "Hey Sam."

"Hey there, Buffy. How are things? Haven't seen you 'round lately. Busy up there in Shreveport?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you can say that. Fangtasia's packed every night. It's a miracle that I was able to escape for a bit today. Is Dawn around? I need to talk to her."

He looked at me curiously. "Yeah, she's out back in the office. Is everything alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, mostly."

"Care to explain?"

"Oh, yeah. It's nothing, really. I just need to, uh, well—"

I was trying phrase 'murder her' without sounding rude.

He apparently got the jist though and nodded accordingly.

"I take it your father found you okay?"

I stood up. "Well, he found me alright. I'm not sure how 'okay' that is though. Mind if we use your office?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. Just go easy on her, will ya? She's kinda frazzled about his visit and you should know that it wasn't, well, never mind that, not my place to say, but please…try not to break anything, alright?"

I really liked Sam. He was a good guy. Yeah, he was quite a bit older than Dawnie, but really, I have absolutely no right to be quipping about age differences. My current boyfriend is over a thousand years old.

I made my way back to Sam's office. The door was open and I could see Dawn bent down low over the desk, probably doing the bookkeeping for Sam.

This wasn't her normal job, mind you. During the week, she worked for Herveaux Construction in their Shreveport office. She commuted the hour or so drive daily. She swore up and down that she didn't mind though. We had lunch together nearly every single day during the week, as she was so close.

I shook my head thinking that I should've known something was up. We hadn't met for lunch yesterday. She called last minute and said that she was going home early because she didn't feel good.

I didn't bother knocking on Sam's office door. I just stood in the door way, with my arms folded and cleared my throat loudly.

Dawn spun around in the chair to see who was intruding her business work.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"Buffy! What are you doing here?"

"Dawn, you know what I'm doing here."

"Ah, so the daddsters found you."

"Yeah, the daddsters found me."

There was a long, awkward silence.

I walked into Sam's office and shut the door behind me, rolling my eyes.

"Dawn, how could you?"

"Well, uh, yeah, about that…"

"Dawn you know exactly how I feel about him. You know because you feel the same way."

"I didn't tell him. I swear to the Powers themselves that I didn't tell him."

"Then who did? Sookie nor Sam wouldn't tell, so who did?"

"He came in , asking questions. I was back here, in the office. Sam was behind the bar. He came in asking about me and Sam got suspicious so he asked who he was and he said that he was our father. Sam knows all about him so he started to tell him to drag it but Dad was putting up a big fuss about it saying that he had every right to see his daughter, if she was here. I didn't want it to get anymore inflated than it was already so I just came out and told him myself that I wasn't interested in seeing him and he had to leave. He started begging and pleading and saying how sorry he was for everything he had done, er, well, not done over the last few years. And how he was sorry that such a bright, brilliant child like myself had to grow up with such a bad influence. That's you, by the way. Well, I got seriously pissed and yelled and screamed at him that he had no idea the person that you were and he had no idea in the world what you had done for me, what you had sacrificed, just to take care of me. He asked repeatedly for me to tell him where you were, but I denied it every time he asked. Finally, Arlene butted her stupid, ugly dyed head in and told him that she knew you worked at Fangtasia and that she thought you were dating the vampire that owned it. Boy, after Dad left, Arlene got it coming to her. That's why she's in such a grouchy mood today. She got from all different angles that night. Sam, Sookie, myself, even Jason and Lafayette got in her face about it."

I nodded, calmly. Perhaps a little too calmly. I believe that was the tip off to Dawn. I turned and walked out of the office, back into the main room of the bar, where Arlene just so happened to be standing, waiting for Sam to mix her a couple of drinks.

"Arlene. May I have a few words with you, please?" I asked as calm as possible.

She looked at me with a mixture of revulsion and nerves. Sookie and Sam eyed us carefully.

"I don't consort with fangbangers." she said and turned back towards Sam.

I walked right up behind her, grabbed her on the shoulder and whirled her around. She struggled at my grip which just made me hold onto her tighter. I wanted to make an impression.

"Listen to me, you idiotic bimbo. The next time someone comes into this bar asking questions about me or my sister, do us a favor and keep your big, gossipy mouth shut."

A burly looking man came flying over towards the bar. I think I vaguely recognized him as Arlene's new Fellowship beau.

"Don't you dare put your filthy vampire screwing hands on my lady, Blondie."

He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me back. I let Arlene go and she stumbled back from the force of the grip that I had on her. Also, a wrong move on burly Fellowship guy's part. I elbowed him, hard, in the ribcage. He stumbled back, fell over a table and landed on the floor. My adrenaline was pumping and I was suddenly itching for a fight. A fight that I had been denied countless times, thanks to the whole 'it's illegal to kill vampires' law.

Unfortunately, that's when Sam, Jason and Lafayette raced over and stepped in the middle of us. Sookie and Dawn grabbed a hold of me and pulled me back, away from them.

Burly-pants had managed to get himself up from the floor, at least to a sitting position, with Arlene clinging all over him. He was breathing heavily.

"I think she broke my ribs!" he exclaimed.

"Well it serves you right, I think." Sookie said, matter of fact-ish.

"You're taking her side, Sookie? I thought we were friends!" Arlene yelled.

"We haven't been friends in months, Arlene. More than that. Ever since you got involved with all this stupid Fellowship shit. And even before then, I don't really think you were ever my friend, not truly. You only came around when you needed something, like a babysitter or someone to clean your trailer."

"Don't worry about it, baby. Fangbangers always stick together." Burly-pants said.

It was one thing to insult me, but good God you better watch out if you insult my family. And that's what Sookie was to Dawn and I. Family.

Dawn let go of my arm and I managed to easily shake Sookie's grip off. I pushed Jason, Lafayette and Sam out of the way, with little effort. I grabbed Burly-pants by the collar of his shirt and yanked him upright. He let out a howl of pain.

"You better take that little insult of yours back, unless you want your ribs to be non-existent, instead of just broken."

"Do ya'll see what problems these vampires have created? Violence! And it's all from being around the vampires!" Arlene exclaimed, dramatically.

Dawn snorted loudly. "Yeah, right. It's all the vampires faults. No, no. You and your stupid boyfriend had nothing to do with it at all. Oh, no. Nothing."

"Buffy, put him down." Sam said, aggravated.

I shrugged and tossed Burly-pants to the floor. I heard the sickening crack and figured that was the rest of his ribs breaking. His screams attested it.

Arlene bent back down to try and help Burly-pants up.

"Arlene, I want you to take him and get out of my bar." Sam said to her.

She stood up and stomped her foot, angrily, like a child.

"She assaulted us and you're throwing us out?"

"All your little Fellowship buddies have been doing nothing but causing trouble since they've been coming in here. I don't want it anymore."

"She's caused more trouble in the last fifteen minutes than we have in a month!"

"Arlene, I said go. Go home and calm yourself down and come back tomorrow."

"Well you can forget that, Sam Merlotte. I'm quittin'. I didn't want to work for no shifter anyway. Ya'll are a bunch of freaks around here! I'm done!"

She tore off her apron, threw it at Sam and then bent down to help Burly-pants stand. As soon as she had him up, they walked out of the bar.

By then, I had calmed down some and I was starting to feel bad. Really bad. Especially when I noticed that I had completely shattered one of Sam's tables when I tossed the Fellowship dude on it. Whoops. Jason and Lafayette walked over and started picking up the shattered wooden pieces of it.

"Daaaaaaaaaaamn girl! The next time I'm getting' in a fight, I'm callin' yous up." Lafayette said.

"Alright, everybody. Show's over. Go back to whatever it was you were doing." Sam yelled throughout the bar. He turned back towards me.

"Can I talk to you in private?" he asked, sharply.

I nodded sheepishly.

I followed Sam out back, but instead of going into his office, we walked outside, behind the bar. Dawn and Sookie stayed behind to help calm down the chaos.

"Sam, I am so sorry. I was just so mad at her for interfering with mine and Dawn's stuff…It's just that it's been so long since I've been able to, you know…fight anything….something in me just completely snapped and I couldn't hold myself back, especially when they were throwing out insults at Sookie—"

Sam held up a finger to indicate that I should stop moving my lips and listen.

"Buffy, I don't blame you. They both had it comin', but, you should've waited. I don't like that stuff goin' on in my bar. It's not really that good for business, you know? Especially so close after the Weres coming out…I mean, business hasn't really been that bad, but it's declined a bit. I don't need anything else keeping people away."

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am?"

"Have I mentioned that you owe me a new table?" he smirked.

I knew then that things were all good between us.

"I'll have Eric send over a check."

Eric probably wasn't going to be thrilled that my temper was costing him money—again. Within twenty four hours. Less than, actually.

Sam nodded his approval.

"It's not that I'm banning you from the bar or anything so please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you should probably leave and not come back 'round for a bit."

I nodded, understandingly.

"I know Sookie was wanting to see you so I'll just go in and get her while you wait safely out here, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be out by my car." I said, pointing towards the front parking lot.

I walked around the bar and leaned against my car, waiting for Sookie. Lafayette was standing out front, smoking a cigarette. When he saw me, he walked over and leaned next to me.

"You know, I aint' neva seen a girl as strong as you. For that fact, I ain't neva seen a man as strong as you. Well, ones that weren't vampires, anyway."

I smiled. "You don't watch a lot of TV, huh Lafayette?"

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you remember the anti-Vampire Slayer ads that the AVL was running all over the place a few years ago?"

He nodded "Yeah, I think so."

I pointed to myself.

"Nah, really?"

I laughed. "Really truly. I'm a Slayer. Well, the original. Well, no, not _the_original. I'd be like, ten thousand years old or something if I were the true original."

He looked at me expectantly so I explained all about the Slayer line, in as short of a sentence as I could.

"So, you fight vampires?"

"Used to, yep."

"You fight 'em, yet you is screwin' one?"

I laughed. "That is possibly one of the worst ways you could've said it, but, yes."

"I've met Eric Northman on several occasions and all I gotta say is….good luck to you, hookah. That vamp is scary as shit."

"It's kind of his job to be scary, as a Sheriff. He wouldn't be nearly as powerful as he is if he wasn't so scary." I leaned in a bit closer to him. "It would also probably help if you stopped selling the V." I whispered.

Lafayette's eyes went wide. "How the fuck you know that?"

I raised my eyebrow at him. "It's Eric. It's his job to know. You're just lucky he hasn't gone to the Queen yet, which, by the way, _you're welcome_. I know she's not your Queen, but she could seriously mess up your life. Bad."

"How bad?"

"Dead bad."

He nodded.

Sookie came out then and walked over to us.

"Ready to go Buffy?" she smiled.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll follow you over to your house?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll see you there in a few minutes."

She got in her car and drove off towards her house.

I turned back to Lafayette.

"I like you, Lafayette. You're a good person. Promise me that you're going to stop selling it."

He nodded, but looked apprehensive. "I'd like to, but there's someone behind me, pushin' it."

"Who?"

"I'm flattered that ya care, but I'm thinkin' that they'd probably kill me before you or your playboy Sheriff could do anything 'bout it."

With that, he walked back into the bar. I sighed and hopped in my car. In a few short minutes, I was driving up Sookie's driveway.

We had a nice afternoon together, just hanging out. I told her all about the things Hank had said to me when he'd come into the bar and I told her of Pam glamouring him.

"Why didn't Eric just glamour him?" Sookie asked.

"Well, honestly, I think Eric just likes to threaten people."

We both laughed at that.

All too soon, the sun was setting. I sighed as I realized that my nice, mostly relaxing afternoon, was about to give way to a night full of Fangtasia and actual fangbangers. Not to mention whatever vampire-y thing that Eric had going on with that black bag.

That black bag that I had left sitting on the counter top at home.

"Crap!" I yelled, scrambling up off Sookie's couch.

"What is it?" she asked, worriedly.

"There's this thing that I think Eric has going on tonight. He left me this bag thing that I was supposed to bring to him at Fangtasia and I forgot to bring it."

"What's going on?"

"I honestly have no idea. It must be important though. He asked me to dress nice."

That's when I realized that the dress I had grabbed was sitting right next to the velvety bag.

I looked towards Sookie and put my nicest smile on, not that I really needed to.

"Sookie…."

She stood up and smiled. "You wanna borrow a dress?"

* * *

><p>About forty five minutes later and I was all prettied up.<p>

Sookie had an amazing array of dresses in her closet. The one I picked out was very fancy. It was black on the top, with a dark gray cascade of ruffles that stopped just above my knees. There was a gray bow to the side and it was strapless.

Sookie's a little bit more, ah, blessed than I am in the upper region so we had to do some severe pinning in that department, but we got it done. I borrowed a beautiful pair of candy apple red high heels to complete my outfit. Luckily, we're the same size in shoes.

As we were in Sookie's bathroom, primping up my hair, there was a loud series of knocks on the front door. We immediately stopped what we were doing and booked it out to the front room.

"You weren't expecting any guests tonight, were you?" I whispered.

She shook her head.

I walked carefully over to the front door and yanked it open, ready for a fight.

I was definitely not expecting it to be who it was.

She held up the black velvety bag that I had forgotten at home.

"Long time no see, B. You forget something?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Faith?"

I ran out onto Sookie's porch and grasped my Slayer sister in a firm hug. We let go after a few minutes. I stepped back and Sookie stepped out onto the porch, latching the door shut behind her.

"Sookie, this is Faith. We used to be the Chosen Two that is until Willow worked her magic. Faith, this is my best friend, Sookie."

They politely acknowledged each other. I couldn't figure out why Sookie was being so quiet until I paid attention to my vamp senses flaring. I looked behind Faith and saw Bill standing at the bottom of the stairs. He held his arms politely behind his back and he was dressed to the nines.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Hello to you too, Miss Summers." he drawled out in his thick Southern accent.

I placed myself partially in front of Sookie, protectively.

"I didn't greet you. I asked what you're doing here, _Mr. Compton_."

If you imagined me saying that real sarcastic like, you'd be right. Bill and I aren't friends, plain and simple. Never have been, most certainly never will be.

He glared at me and then gestured towards Faith, who I now noticed was wearing the bright red, short, strapless dress I had originally planned on wearing tonight.

Sookie took her arm out of mine and walked back into the house. I'm sure that she had, ah… 'heard' something and decided she didn't want any part of it.

"Faith, what's going on?"

"We've been summoned. By Eric." Bill said, a bit hostilely.

He definitely does not like Eric being able to order him around. Sookie and I personally think it's hysterical. I mean, not that she would ever confess to that, because she's so super polite, but it's true. I know how it feels when you see your ex getting what they deserve. :)

"Yeah, I'm pretty positive that your name is Bill. Not Faith." I sneered.

"It's like he said, B. Eric called."

"Yeah, okay, but you don't have to pay allegiance to him like Bill does. So why are you here? For the vampire thing tonight?"

She fumbled around for a minute or two while she figured out how to respond.

"He was real tight lipped on the specifics. He called last night. Said to meet him at your house after sundown. He assured me that nothing was wrong, but he didn't tell me what was going on, either. When I got there tonight, he handed me this, saying that, big surprise, you forgot it. He told me that you were here, at Sookie's and he gave me the directions. On my way out the door, he handed me a garment bag and said that I should probably put this on at some point. So I did. Eric was all shiny in his tux so I figured that whatever's going on tonight is an occasion of the dressy kind."

We were silent for several more moments while I processed the information. I really wanted to know what was in the black bag that was so important and I had this feeling that Bill knew what it was and what it was for. However, I also had the feeling that Eric for some reason didn't want me to find out before hand. My thoughts were broken up by Bill.

"Eric allowed you entry to his private residence?" Bill asked.

"A little jealous there, Billy boy?" Faith shot back.

"This isn't Faith's first time visiting. She's been to our place numerous times. Could we please focus on the topic at hand? Eric's summoned you two to some vampire soiree thing that's apparently important, where he's asked me to present him with whatever this stupid thing is. And I really have this strong feeling telling me that you know what it is, Bill." I rambled, gesturing to the bag.

"Yep, that's about it. Except they left off that I was summoned too." Sookie said, rejoining us on the porch.

She had changed out of her Merlotte's uniform (white t-shirt & shorts) and was now wearing a beautiful party dress. It was chiffon, one-shouldered and short. It hit several inches above the knee, exposing quite a bit of Sookie's tan, which I could see Bill openly admiring.

Ugh.

Creep.

It was very fitted on the top and the skirt had a bit of a flow to it. The hue was very similar to Faith's short little red number.

"We should probably get on the road, so we're not late, right Faith?" Sookie said, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah…tall, hot and Viking will be pissed if you're late, B." Faith grinned. "C'mon. We'll take my car." she added on, walking to her black little sports car.

"Wait, then my car will be stuck here at Sookie's." I said, un-moving from the porch.

Faith turned around. "Well then have Billy Bob here drive it back to Shreveport."

I ran down the steps. "Hell to the no. He's not touching my car."

Bill rolled his eyes and Sookie followed me down the steps.

"Well then, since your so…._opposed_to me driving your vehicle, what if Sookie and I drive Faith's back and you and Faith take your car. I'm sure you have much to catch up on." Bill interjected.

I raised my eyebrow. "Yeah, right, no. Sookie's not riding with you."

"I feel that you may want to let her decide for herself." he replied, sharply.

"Buffy's right. I'm not riding with a lying asshole." Sookie said, folding her arms and standing her ground.

I think I actually heard a growl escape Bill's lips. Faith stepped in the middle of the increasingly mounting tension.

"Okay, cool it down. I'd hate to rip Buffy's dress kicking some ass. Bill, you drive my car. Sookie and I will ride with Buffy."

I ran back into the house, grabbed my stuff and tossed it all into the car. I climbed in the driver's seat while Faith hopped in the passenger side, Sookie in the back and we were off.

* * *

><p>The drive back to Shreveport seemed longer than usual tonight. Mostly because I was extremely anxious.<p>

I drove quietly, silently gazing out the windshield, wondering what in the Hell my dearest lovey poo had planned for the evening. And why he didn't tell me anything about it.

Pffft.

Who am I kidding?

Eric seldom told me things of importance. _Especially_when they had to do with me. Which this seemingly did. Whenever he hid the important stuff from me, I'd get mad and yell and we'd fight. But then the fighting usually turned to...other things. Naked things.

Was I planning on yelling tonight?

Hell yes! ;)

"So, what's with all the hostility towards Billy bob over there?" Faith asked, breaking up my rapidly increasingly racy thoughts.

"He used to be my boyfriend. But then Buffy and Eric found out….well, they found out some serious things that Bill had been hiding from me."

"Another girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

"Worse than that." Sookie said, quietly.

"Both?"

I sighed heavily. Oh Faith.

"The Queen sent Bill to procure Sookie, by any means necessary, and bring her back to New Orleans. Sookie's…special. I can't really say anymore about it."

"What a bitch. Tell me you staked her prime time?"

"…You're asking me if I staked the Vampire Queen of Louisiana?"

Faith nodded. Sookie giggled. I shook my head.

"Faith, if I did that, I wouldn't be here right now. Neither would Eric. Or Sookie. Not to mention, besides her little adventure into trying to kidnap Sookie, I like Sophie-Anne. She's as honest as a vampire can get. She respects me and I respect her."

"I kind of don't mind her myself." Sookie agreed. "I mean, yeah, she did try to have me kidnapped, but she didn't lie to me about it when I confronted her. And she didn't try to kill me, either. Which is always good in my book. Or pretend to love me. Like some." she added on.

"Aren't you afraid that she's going to keep trying?" Faith asked.

I laughed. "She won't try anymore. Her hands are tightly bound, so to say. _Very_tightly thanks to my little governmental in."

Faith grinned. "Are we talking about some Agent Finn action? 'Cause, if we are, I seriously need to talk to him about getting the CA law enforcement off my back. Europe's great and all….but I'm an American girl at heart."

I started to answer, but my phone buzzed, interrupting. The number that came up was unfamiliar so I answered with caution.

"Hello?"

"You rang, Miss Summers?"

The phone number may have been unfamiliar but the voice on the other end was extremely familiar. I put it on speaker phone, mostly because I was driving and we all know how great of a driver I am, but, also, it meant that I wouldn't have to relay everything Riley said back.

"Agent Finn, are you psychic? We were just talking about you."

"Got your message. How can I help you?"

"My dad was in town last night. He heavily implied that outer forces led him to Dawn who led him to me. I got the impression that he was talking about you."

"Buffy-"

"Riley, I swear to God if it was you, I'm going to find you and use you as a human punching bag. And don't think that I can't find you. 'Cause I can."

"I saw him, it's true."

"Riley! How could you?"

"Buffy, if you'd let me finish, please?"

I cleared my throat. "Please continue."

"Remember that whole thing where Eric had us make you 'untraceable'?"

"Yeah…."

"Well, that's how we found out he was searching for you. Your name has kind of a…red flag that pops up next to it. Like someone that's in the witness protection program, kind of. And actually, that's the explanation we've been using. I tried to wipe your name from everything but the big boss got suspicious so we had to cover it up. We used the witness protection program line. About a week ago, Sam got word that your name had been popping up quite frequently. I was up in Canada trying to track down a rather nasty nest of demons but I flew straight back to base as soon as she called. Your dad showed up the next day. He told me who he was and I told him who I was, your former boyfriend, and I introduced him to Sam. He told me that he was desperately searching for you because he thought you were in some sort of danger, which, of course, got my attention. He couldn't be specific on the danger he thought you were in….Sam and I got suspicious. I have to say Buffy, I'm thinking that your dad is into all this Fellowship stuff. I mean, I know how dangerous and evil vampires are and can be, but their practices are a little extreme, even for me. He was definitely preaching the Fellowship vibe. Basically, we told him to get lost."

I nodded, even though he obviously couldn't see.

"I agree. Sookie and I were actually discussing that very theory today. Last night, he started off normal seeming, but within a minute, he flipped to 'Welcome to Psycho-Ville, Population: Hank'. Preaching that Dawn and I were living our lives on the wrong tracks and such. Oh, and he was trying to have me committed. We got him straightened out though."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Pam glamoured him into believing that Dawn and I don't exist and that Mom died before they had a chance to have any kids."

"How's that going to work when he gets home with his wife?"

"My guess is that Hank's going to be the one getting committed." I couldn't hide the smirk that formed when I said it.

"Was that all you needed, Buffy? I really have to get back up to Canada. God only knows where that demon nest headed off to."

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks for not selling me out, Riley. Say hello to Sam for me." With that, I hung up.

I glanced over and noticed Faith's eyes getting wide.

"Faith? What is it?"

"Your dad was in town?"

"Yeah, yesterday. He had this whole agenda thing of having me committed for being a psycho. And getting Dawnie out of Bon Temps and away from Sam. Why? Faith? What's wrong?" I asked, a little more alarmed now.

"I need my phone, B. It's in my car. We have to pull over."

"What? Why?"

Faith was silent. Sookie reached up from the backseat and lightly placed her hands on each side of Faith's head. Within thirty seconds, Sookie's eyes widened too.

"Buffy, listen to her. Pull over."

Sookie whipped out her brand new cell phone and punched in a number.

"Bill, we're pulling over for a second. Faith needs her phone out of the car. Bill, just do it." Sookie said, a little forcefully. I heard mumbles and she slammed the phone shut.

I pulled safely, well, mostly safely, onto the shoulder of the interstate. I had to cut across four lanes. It's not my fault that the people in those lanes didn't understand that we apparently had some sort of emergency going on.

Bill pulled over behind us. Faith was rummaging around inside her glove box before he even had the car at a full stop. She grabbed her phone out and dialed rapidly.

I turned to Sookie. "What's going on?"

She took a deep breath. "Buffy…two things. First, I want you to know how much you mean to me. You and Dawn. I'm so happy that you're both in my life."

Yeah, this probably wasn't going to be good. It's never good when someone starts off with how much you meant to them.

"Faith thinks she knows who sent your father. Your not going to be happy….not at all. That's all I'm going to say. You should go over with her. Bill and I will stay back here, by the cars."

I nodded my head and walked over to Faith.

"Who are you calling?" I asked, quietly.

She didn't answer.

"Faith!" I yelled, a bit louder. She looked up at me. "Who is it you are trying to call?"

"Xander."

"Xander?" His name left a sour taste in my mouth. And then I realized she was talking into the phone. She put it on speaker phone so I could hear.

"Hey, it's Faith. Yeah, I know it's really early over there but it's important. Look, has Buffy's dad contacted you at all?"

Xander's voice came over the phone and I suddenly felt this tremendous emotional pull of how much I missed him, Willow and Giles.

"Yeah, he called a few days ago, looking for Buffy and Dawn. He said it was urgent and that he thought they were in danger."

"Did you tell him anything?"

"Like what?"

"Like, oh, I don't know…where they were?"

Xander was quiet for several very very long seconds.

"Not at first. I talked it over with Willow and Giles and we decided that perhaps Buffy needed her father in her life. I told him about her current predicament and all he was interested in was getting her and Dawn out of Louisiana and back to California. We thought it wasn't a bad idea. So I told him where to find Dawn."

The emotional 'I-Miss-You' pull went flying through the metaphorical window and suddenly, all I wanted was to scream and yell.

So that's what I did.

I grabbed the phone from Faith.

"Hey, Xander. It's Buffy. You know, the one you sold out to a man who was clearly insane. In case you couldn't tell, which, I mean, clearly you couldn't, my father is insane. He obviously belongs to the Fellowship, which I'm pretty sure you remember how they operate. Not to mention, he wanted to have me committed, for crying out loud!"

"I'm starting to think that's not a bad option." Xander said, gravely.

"How could you do this to me? All of you?"

"You're different, Buffy. You haven't been the same since you moved there."

"Yeah, I believe you've already spewed this spiel before, Xander. I could also say the same thing about you. None of you are the same anymore either. The friends I knew….the ones I loved so much, none of them would ever try to change my life just because they didn't like something about it. They would be supportive."

"Buffy, the environment you're in…it's not…it's not right! You should be us. Fighting the bad guys like always. Not shacking up with them in a sleazy tourist bar. We all think so."

My heart sank. Sadness pierced it from every angle. If that's how my former friends felt, then so be it.

I took a deep breath.

"Well, Xander, if that's how you really feel then I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you all are so self-absorbed with such hate that you can't just be happy that I'm happy. And if that's how you really feel, then I'm done. I've got everyone that I need right here. Oh, and if any of you even think about giving out information on me or Dawn ever again, I swear to God that you will regret it to your very core. Yes, that's a threat. A very real threat. I'm heartbroken that it's come to this, but I can't keep letting you guys hurt me like this. I've saved your lives hundreds of times. And, not to mention, if it wasn't for me, none of you would even be in the head honcho positions that you're in and this is the thanks I get? No, I don't think so. Goodbye, Xander Harris. See ya later."

Click.

I tossed Faith's phone back to her and slid back into the driver's seat of my car. Faith slid in next to me. I was waiting for Sookie, but I saw in the rear view that she was getting into Faith's car with Bill.

I wiped tears from my eyes and, carefully this time, pulled back into traffic and resumed the journey back to Shreveport.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

As soon as we got to Fangtasia, I knew instantly that this was indeed some kind of big, fancy vampire-to-do.

The parking lot was nearly empty, strange for a Saturday night in the dead of summer, save for a dozen and a half cars and, very noticeably, several sleek, black limos.

I glanced at the clock on my dash. It was a little after nine and there were no lines at the door. Pam wasn't seated at her usual perch. The multitudes of tourists and fangbangers that populated us nightly were nowhere to be found.

I motioned for Bill to park in back and he gathered outside the back entrance and my depressing argument with Xander was currently rowing its way into the 'forget' box of my mind, thanks to my growing curiosity.

What on earth would make Eric close the bar on a night when he could be making tons of money?

Taking in our dressy attire, the black mystery bag and all the limos….probably something of the not very good variety. Nothing good can come from limos.

As I gazed around the parking lot, I thought I noticed Sam's truck, tucked in next to the line of limos.

I cocked my eyebrow and pointed it out to Sookie, who, in turn, also raised her eyebrows.

"That is Sam's truck for sure. What in the world would he be doing at a vamp event?"

'And why didn't he mention it?' was the unspoken end to that question.

"Ladies, shall we enter? I feel that Eric would be rather…..displeased if you were late, Miss Summers."

A stray thought plucked through my mind again. I turned to face Bill.

"You know what's going on here, don't you?"

He hesitated before answering.

"Yes…I do. However, I'm forbidden from telling any of you. Eric's ordered me to remain silent about it."

"Is whatever's in this bag for me?"

He hesitated again. "Yes and no."

He handed the mystery bag in question over to me.

"When the time is right, you must give this to Eric. You'll know when it's appropriate. I'm afraid that's all I can say on the matter."

He gestured towards the door.

I sighed and used my key to unlock it. Bill held the door for us as we sauntered in. It hadn't been quite the information that I had been hoping for, but it was more than I previously had. As much as I disliked Bill, I knew that pestering him about it would do no good. Eric had ordered him to keep silent and as an underling to the Sheriff, Bill had to obey.

Bobby Burnham, Eric's day guy, was waiting impatiently on the other side of the door. He was leaning up against the wall, his arms folded and a scowl etched across his face. Though, to be fair, that scowl, in my opinion, seemed to be permanently etched on his face. At least when I was around. He jolted upright as soon as he saw us enter.

"Miss Summers, you're late. The Boss is waiting for you in his office. The others are to wait out in the club."

I disregarded his insolent tone and followed the all too familiar path to Eric's office, while Faith, Sookie and Bill followed Bobby out to the open bar area.

I opened the door to the office and gasped instantly. When Bobby said 'The Boss'….

He legitimately meant The Boss.

Sophie-Anne was leaning up against Eric's desk. Her reddish-brown hair was pinned up in a beautiful up-do. She was wearing a long, plum colored, silk dress. Its straps veered down into a sweetheart neckline. She accented it with three small diamond pins down the bodice.

She didn't look up when I entered. She just simply told me to shut the door and I did.

We stood in an awkward silence for a completely immeasurable amount of time. My mind was racing a mile a minute. If Sophie-Anne was here then….well, it really must not be good. What confused me though, is that her three faithful body guards weren't anywhere in the room. Andre, Siegbert and Wybert followed Sophie-Anne _everywhere_.

Okay, I guess, technically, Andre isn't her bodyguard, per se. He's her second-in-command. He's her Pam. But he definitely acts the bodyguard part. He's an ass. I don't really care for him much at all and I really wouldn't mind if he met Mr. Pointy.

"I understand that I am not your personal Queen, but I am the Queen of your lover and therefore you do need to address me as such." she said, breaking the silence.

I shook my head out of my foggy daze.

"Right. Sorry. A lot going on. My apologies, your Majesty."

If this were under normal Buffy-circumstances, I totally would've snorted and walked away. But there's that whole bit where I actually like Sophie-Anne and I respect her position. It's not easy being Queen. What's that Shakespeare quote? Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown?

Yeah, that's right. The Buffster knows some Shakespeare. It's easy when your boyfriend was alive at the same time.

Sorry. Off-topic again.

Sophie-Anne was definitely having her share of hardships at the moment. Hadley was vamp-murdered by one of Sophie-Anne's companions that was jealous over their loving relationship. She took the death hard, obviously, as did Sookie. Hadley was Sookie's cousin and she had been missing for quite a while. Had I known that when I rescued her and Dawn all that time ago, I probably would've dragged her back home.

Sophie-Anne spoke again, forcing me to bring my attention to the present.

"Buffy, do you have any idea what's going on this evening?" she asked.

"No...your Majesty. But I'm going to assume that it's something not great."

She whipped her head up and looked at me like I had seven heads and a tail sprouting.

"No no no. Quite the contrary, my dear child. It's a happy occasion." she smiled.

"Happy?"

"Very happy indeed. Your role in the vampire world is about to become increasingly more...important."

"_More_ important? I don't mean any offense by this at all, but what if I don't want to be more important? What if I want to be 'Where's Waldo' Buffy?"

She smiled at my analogy (I think) and stood up from the desk, taking several steps towards me.

"It's just a little ceremony. It takes less than a minute. Humans do it all the time."

"Again with the whole please don't be offended, your Majesty, but it's been a _really_ long day and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"I have a gift for you. Something that may make it a little more obvious." she walked over to the wall behind me and took down a garment bag that I hadn't noticed sitting there before.

She walked back over and handed it to me.

"Go on. Open it."

I untied the bag and pulled it up over the top. I let out (several) audible gasps.

It was a vintage 1950's dress. It was halter strapped and the front dipped just far enough down for some teaser cleavage while the back was completely opened. The skirt had a little poof to it and it stopped several inches above the knees.

Oh, and it was white.

In my experience, the only time girls wore white dresses as fancy as this was when they were getting married.

As soon as I finished the thought, my eyes widened in understanding.

"Soph-, er, your Majesty….is this what I think it is?"

"If you are thinking that it's a very expensive, vintage wedding dress that I had designed especially for you as a gift, then yes. Yes it is."

I had no idea what to say. For one of the very first times in my life, I was actually left speechless.

I started to have an internal panic attack at the suddenness of a surprise wedding.

But wait a minute. Hadn't I just told Xander how happy I was here, with Eric and with my life? Hadn't I just told Hank last night that I would marry Eric if it were legal to? That brought me to a new line of questions.

"Wait a minute. Vampires and humans can't marry. It's illegal."

Sophie-Anne nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, while that's true…the vampires do have a marriage ceremony of their own. Now, mind you, it's only legal in the eyes of vampires and other supes. Like you said, it has no validation with human law."

"I take it that it has something to do with this black bag I've been carting around?"

She nodded again. "Yes. Inside that bag is a very ancient ceremonial knife. You will walk out there and when I tell you to, you will present it to Eric, in front of me. He will take it out, in acceptance, I will, oh, how do you humans phrase it? Oh, yes, of course. I will pronounce you vampire husband and wife. So to say. You will be pledged to one another. "

"That's it? I just give the knife thing to Eric and voila, we're married?"

"You will not only be married, dear child. He will have complete ownership over you. You will be solely his, forever. No one can come and take you away from him when you are pledged together. If they try, they receive the final death."

"Ownership, huh?"

"Buffy, it is not only for your own protection, it is because he loves you. I've known Eric for a very long time and I've never seen him the way he is now. Be wise. You love him, yes?"

I breathed in and exhaled deeply. "Yes. I do. I love him and I love the friends that I've made and I love my life here."

Sophie-Anne smiled. "Then let's not let my gift go to waste. "

_

In no time flat, I was out of Sookie's dress, into the new one, out of Eric's office and escorted (by the flippin' _Queen_ no less) into the main area of the club.

Sam's truck in the parking lot and Sookie and Faith's presence made a whole lot more sense now. It was actually Dawn that had driven Sam's truck, figuring that if I saw her car here I probably would've freaked out and torn the building down. And she's right. I probably would've.

Just as Faith said, Eric was definitely dressed to the nines in a spiffy designer tux and let's just sit on that precious thought for a minute.

Eric, the gorgeous, blonde, thousand-year old Viking God. In a tux.  
>It's a beautiful picture, right?<p>

In one quick ceremony, Eric and I were pledged to each other. Forever. He had complete ownership of me, yes, but, to be honest, I never felt safer in my life than I did at that exact moment.

While my friends and Eric's vampire subjects stayed to enjoy the party that was undoubtedly going to last till dawn, no pun intended, we decided to slip away and go home. It's a rare occasion that we actually get to spend any alone time together, with all the business at the bar going on, so we took the opportunity as it laid at our feet.

We barely made it through the front door before I had Eric's tuxedo jacket off and his tie ripped.

He scooped me up in his arms and crossed me into the living room, his hands roaming endlessly.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Northman. Isn't that how the humans do it? Over the threshold?" he said, in between fevered kisses.

I didn't speak my answer. I just nodded my head and pulled his lips back to mine as I ripped through the buttons on his shirt. He flew us (literally) upstairs, to our windowless bedroom, and set me down on the bed.

"I want to give you my marriage gift now."

I couldn't help it. I burst out into laughter.

He raised his eyebrow, obviously confused.

"Not your best line." I said, through my laughter.

He grinned. "It wasn't a line."

"Go on then." I said, intrigued.

He bent down to his knees and took my hands in his.

"I want to redo our bond."

"The blood one?"

"Yes. The more we do it, the stronger it will become. We've both been too busy and distracted lately though, to….go on with it."

"You're actually asking my permission on something?"

"It's a big deal, as you say."

"Wait a sec. You think that the blood bond is a big enough deal to ask me about but the whole marriage-pledged-to-each-other ceremony isn't? And by the way, how did you manage to plan that all in a matter of literally hours?"

He smiled. "I had actually been planning it for quite some time. Your little confession to your father last night just happened by coincidence."

"You know my answer already, then."

He took one of his hands away from mine and edged the hem of my dress up. I moved my legs further apart. He started kissing at the inside of my knee and stopped when he was hovering over the main artery, on the inside of my thigh. I heard his fangs click out. He gently kissed over the artery. He looked up at me and I nodded. With one quick flash, he sunk his fangs into the artery and drank. I felt an immense surge of pleasure float up throughout my entire body and in that one instant, I knew several things.

I knew that I no longer cared what my former friends thought of me.

I knew that I loved Eric more than anything in the world.

And I knew where I planned on spending the rest of my life.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

A lot can happen in a year. _A lot._

Sophie-Anne was vamp-murdered. Her 'murder' is definitely a mystery. Obviously, no one's come forward and most likely won't as the penalty is final death. I was really sad when the news was broken. Sad and really pissed. I liked Sophie-Anne and I kind of think she liked me. Eric told me it would do no good to find out who killed her as it was probably another vampire and I'd be the one getting in trouble for dealing out the justice.

We all know how well I listen. I'm in the middle of quietly figuring it out.

The new King of Louisiana is…..none other than Mr. William Compton.

Hysterical, right?

I'm not entirely sure how Bill became King. Well, no, I know how became King. He was apparently secretly the Sheriff of Area Two and therefore when Sophie-Anne died, he took her throne. I guess I just don't know how I didn't know that he was a Sheriff.

Regardless, we all had a good laugh over it. Until we realized what life with King Bill is like.

One of Eric's floor-sitters refused to pay allegiance to the good King when he visited Fangtasia and now she's a pile of ash.

Life with Bill as King definitely isn't all roses and peaches. Whatever that means.

Eric's had a rough time adjusting to it. So, instead, he just opts for pushing Bill to his very last, legally safe and ash-free button.

Faith never went back to the Council. She gave the virtual double middle finger and quit.

I'm not kidding. She got Xander on an internet call with her web-cam. She smiled sweetly, held up a rather graphic sign that basically said 'I quit' and double flipped him off while Dawn and I laughed hysterically in the background.

Riley totally pulled through for her after that little stunt. She's no longer a wanted criminal on the run.

She lived in Shreveport for awhile, doing bouncer duty for Eric at Fangtasia. Now she's currently, as Mom would've said, 'shacking up', with Jason Stackhouse. She's doing the bouncer/bartender thing at Merlotte's at the moment. Sam said she's been an asset and a burden all at the same time. I laughed.

Sookie, Dawn and myself are giving the Faith/Jason scenario two months at the most.

Oh, speaking of Riley, him and Sam(-antha. There's a few 'Sam's' in my life at the moment.) had babies. Twins. Jack and Olive. Sam asked me to be their God-Mom. I accepted. I actually just got one of those picture postcards of them in the mail. They're adorable. I approve.

I, against Eric's wishes, reconciled with Willow and Giles. Apparently, after Faith quit the Council, Giles…was less than pleased.

More so of the fact that Xander never told Giles or Willow about her quitting and they had to find it out from Kennedy, Slayer-wannabe extraordinaire. Xander told him that she said she was staying put to check out some Slayer-y things going on in New Orleans.

Wroooooooooong. I'm not sure how they found out, but I'm guessing that Kennedy didn't just volunteer the information. Why? Because that's the type of person she is.

Willow was the first to call me. I was very hesitant but after twenty minutes of her sobbing hysterically how sorry she was and how she felt betrayed and how Xander was on this whole ridiculous power trip….blah blah blah….I accepted her apology.

Giles' apology was much the same minus the tears, on his end, and a lot more….British. He said that he planned on basically kicking Xander out of his position but I managed to convince him to leave Xander where he was.

I didn't want Xander to know that Giles and Will were on my side, at least not yet.

They were to just keep an eye on him and to give me randomized reports.

I was pretty sure that he was working with the Fellowship but I wanted actual proof before I made any kind of a move.

I know, I know. Before, I said I didn't care. But my reunion with Willow and Giles has kind of changed my feelings up.

And with that….I'm officially out of ways to stall any longer.

I'd like to say that all that stuff matters….well, it does matter, but this, well…this takes major priority. Especially in my plan to kill Bill Compton.

If you've every doubted how much Bill, er, the _King_, hates Eric and I for our part in his and Sookie's break-up, well, I've got the proof right here, buddy.

More like I _am_ the proof.

It was about two months ago, when all the trouble with Dawn really started to escalate (more on that later), when Eric and I were summoned to King Bill.

We left Shreveport at sunset and were being escorted into Bill's 'Royal' mansion.

AKA he spent _a lot_ of other people's money to fix up his crappy old shack.

I'll cut through the boring, pointless chit chat and get right to the good stuff.

Bill said, and I quote, "Now that you are _my _underling, Sheriff Northman, I can properly pay you—and your lovely wife—back for messing in my personal affairs."

Eric's fangs clicked and he let out a vicious snarl, as he leapt in front of me. About fifty very armed and very dangerous guards pointed their vamp killing weapons at Eric.

I pushed him aside and walked up to Bill's desk, folding my arms in the process.

"What do you want?" I growled.

Bill grinned the most ludicrous grin I've ever seen. And Eric's had some good ones.

He moved from his chair to the corner of his desk.

"Well, Miss, er my apologies. Mrs. Northman. I've been hoping to get to this position for quite some time. Ever since I took office as the Sheriff of Area Two. No offense is meant to my predecessor, of course, who was a wonderful Queen and is greatly missed by all, including yours truly—"

"Bull-shit." I spat. "You were probably the one that had her murdered. You're an asshole like that."

Bill smiled again, but this time it had grim lines underneath it.

"Sheriff Northman, you're going to have to teach your progeny the proper way to speak to her King."

Eric and I shared a look of raised eyebrows and 'wtf?' before I responded.

"Yeah….okay. Two things. One-I may have played the Royal game with Sophie-Anne but I did it because I respected her. You? No. Not so much. Two-Your not_ my_ King."

Bill smiled, yet again, this time with a more 'I'm evil and this is my evil plan' tone to it.

Great.

"No, you are right. I'm not currently your King. I have no law over you. But I will. I believe we've now arrived at my reasoning for summoning you both here."

His smile faded and his tone turned ferocious.

"Neither of you had any right to meddle in my affairs with Sookie. It's about time I can hand out some…punishment. Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area Five, by command of your King, William Thomas Compton, I _order_ you to bring Buffy over."

Eric was wide eyed. I…was confused. As usual.

"Over? To where?"

"I will not!" Eric growled.

"Oh, but you will! You will or else she will die."

Suddenly, I was covered in a bunch of tiny red, laser-y dots.

I _really_ hate guns.

"Eric…"

"The guns, they are stocked with silver bullets?"

Bill nodded. "Well, that's the fun part. Some have silver bullets, some have regular. Only one of those kind are lethal to us, however, both of them are deadly to her. If I give the order, all fifty of my guards will shoot. You will both most likely perish. You are fast, true, but is it a risk you're willing to take? It's your decision, Eric. Either you do as I commanded or else you take your chance with the guns. You might make it out, true, but she wouldn't. Can you live for an eternity knowing you caused the death of the one you loved the most?"

After a few terribly long minutes, Eric nodded slowly. When he turned around to face me, he had massive bloody tears.

Oh crap.

"Eric…" I said, again.

He walked over and took my hands in his. He bent his forehead down to mine.

"I'm sorry, lover. I am."

"For what? Eric, what's going on? What's he ordered you to do?"

"I'm sorry for being the selfish bastard that I am. If I wasn't this way…if I wasn't, then I could let you go. I could let you escape this fate. But I'm not. I'm just not. I'm sorry because I know that you don't want this at all."

"Eric, you're scaring me."

"Sheriff Northman, you're wasting time."

"Can it, Bill. We're busy." I shot back.

Bill laughed and motioned with his hands. The guards took aim.

Oops.

Eric turned towards Bill and nodded his head. Bill motioned to the guards, who lowered their weapons. Eric turned back to me and sighed. He bent his head lower, to my neck. I heard his fangs click out and suddenly, the puzzle pieces fit themselves together.

My eyes widened in horror. I tried to wriggle myself out of Eric's grip but he just tightened it. I felt Eric's fangs press against my neck and instead of the usual pleasure that coursed my body, I now felt absolute terror flood throughout me as one of my worst nightmares was quickly becoming a reality.

"Eric…please." I begged, through rapidly forming tears.

"I'm sorry, lover. I'm sorry but I have to."

His bloody tears quadrupled.

Eric sank his fangs into my neck and drank.

His grip on me tightened and my hold on him started to loosen as everything slowly faded to black.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I forgot to put this on the last chapter so I'm putting it here. There's some spoilers for season four of True Blood in the last chapter and from here on, namely King Bill.

* * *

><p>Okay, recap.<p>

For those of you who didn't figure it out, Bill ordered Eric to sire me. It was either that or I was to be executed, while he watched.

All because of one teeny, tiny secret that we found out over four years ago….before Bill was even in power. Apparently, he's good for holding a grudge.

So here's the new me. Instead of _'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'_, I'm _'Buffy the Vampire that used to be a Slayer'_.

Since I'm technically classified as legally dead, the Slayer line automatically reverts to Faith, since she's the only other original Chosen one. Faith said that she felt me die. She didn't elaborate any further than that. Just that she felt me die and she felt the Slayer line as it began to run through her.

I, obviously, can no longer do the whole day manager thing so Bobby Burnaham got his full job title back. He's ecstatic. I think. His face is still in the permanent scowl whenever I see him.

Instead of the once delicious foods I used to eat and enjoy, my diet is a steady supply of Tru Blood.

It's disgusting.

Almost all the synthetic bloods are. Though, for our…. 'anniversary', Eric got a few bottles of 'Royalty' and that wasn't horrible.

I don't blame Eric. It wasn't his fault. I blame Bill one hundred and ten percent and I'm so going to be the one to dust his vampire ass into the ground. Well, that is unless Sookie wants to do the honors.

Eric was just doing what he was ordered to.

Yes. I've drank human blood. But it was on accident. Kinda. Mostly. Plus, the person totally deserved it. I'll get to that later when we go into specifics on Dawn's issues.

Dawn was upset. With everyone. She refused to see me for a few days before she eventually came around. She actually had the nerve to not invite me in. Like I would ever attack her! If I can resist Sookie's faery blood, which, I _so_ understand now, I can resist Dawnie's.

Speaking of, Sookie doesn't hate me. If I didn't know her, I would say that she doesn't have the ability to hate, but I do know her and I know that she hates Bill more than anything in this world. She's not even uncomfortable around me. That's the exact definition of a best friend, in my opinion.

She stormed over to his palatial compound, that's just across the graveyard from her, and chewed him a new one. He's no longer welcome in her home and now receives ice cold death glares every time she sees him, mostly at Merlotte's. Well, actually, from everyone. Sookie. Dawn. Sam. Faith. Jason.

I'm so jealous. Every time I see him, I have to address him.

'Your Majesty.'

I haaaaaaaate it.

Willow and Giles don't know yet, nor do Riley and Sam. I'm praying that the next time they call, it will be during the day and I won't have to tell them myself. I hope that happens and that Riley gets The Initiative to take Bill out for me.

Just sayin'. 

* * *

><p>Okay. Onto Dawn's issues.<p>

Awhile back, before vamp-Buffy, I noticed that Dawnie was starting to act strange. Well, stranger.

I asked her a bunch of times if everything was okay, you know, between her and Sam and she swore that it was. I asked her about work and that was fine too.

Fifty-seven 'fines' and three temper tantrums later, I knew something was definitely up and we were well on our way to Disaster-ville if something wasn't done ASAP.

I mentioned all this to Sookie who offered to listen in around Merlotte's, you know, with her special telepathicness.

After a couple weeks, Sookie's talent paid off.

Dawn came in after work in Shreveport, holding the bar's mail. As she was flipping through it, Sookie said her face literally drained of all color.

She didn't hear everything Dawnie thought, but she heard enough. Quite enough, actually.

Dawn had been receiving threatening notes for the better part of a month and that day, they started to get worse.

Even better was that Sookie actually knew where Dawn was hiding them.

That almost never happens. I mean, who's thinking _'I'm going to murder this person and then hide the body in this place'_?

Sookie called me and I rushed straight to Bon Temps. I flew into Sam and Dawn's trailer, apologizing profusely to Sam as I tore off a cabinet drawer and lifted up the bottom.

Underneath, there were piles and piles of papers.

I grabbed them all and stared Dawn down.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"Because it's not your problem, Buffy." she huffed.

"What the hell's goin on?" Sam asked.

"Dawn's been getting these threats for some time now." I answered.

"Dawn,…really? Who are they from? Why didn't you tell anybody?" Sam asked, lovingly.

"If I knew who they were from, I wouldn't be getting them still." she spat.

"_You're going to die like the slut you are._" I read from the top paper.

That happened to be the newest one. I flipped to the next note.

"_Bitch, you stole the wrong man._"

Sam stared pointedly at Dawn.

"Dawn…what?" he asked with the slightest touch of hurt in his voice.

Tears started to run her cheeks. "It's not true, Sam. It's not. I would never!"

"Then what's it about?" he asked.

"I don't know! But it's not true! I can't even believe that you would think that it would be!" she yelled

"Why haven't you come to me? Or the police?" he asked, more calmly, after a very stretched out minute.

"Oh yeah. Great Sheriff Andy Bellefleur, who's very clearly addicted to some kind of drug, or Deputy Sheriff Jason Stackhouse, whose not only the dullest crayon in the tin, but is way too invested in Faith to even care remotely about anything else!" Dawn rambled.

I nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'm siding with her on that one, Sam."

Sam smiled slightly and we all burst into laughter.

After a few minutes, the laughter quieted down and the seriousness of the situation returned.

"Dawnie, you should've come to me. Or Sam. Eric. Or, hell, even Faith."

"Buffy, I'm a big girl now. I can handle my own problems."

"Yeah, but you don't have to do it alone, sweetie. That's what we're here for." Sam said, pulling her close to him.

Seeing them in such a loving pose made the Slayer in me start to surface.

I vowed to handle it from now on.

"Buffy, let me help." Sam said.

"No. Your job is to take care of Dawnie. And call me immediately if anything else happens."

With that, I left their trailer and headed back to Shreveport. I called Sookie on my way and let her know what was up and that it was being taken care of.

I returned to mine and Eric's home just as the sun was setting. I was completely shocked to see that he was all dressed and ready, leaning against the counter in my kitchen.

Looking absolutely, deliciously perfect, if I might add.

I stretched up and kissed him. I could tell he was moody because he broke the kiss off rather quickly.

"Okay, what's with you, grouchy pants?"

"We were summoned. By the King."

I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but that's the night my life changed forever.

The night that my husband and my lover was forced to murder me and bring me over to the vampire side of 'life'.

I've _really_ got to stop helping people out...


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **

Some lovely jerk(s) keep trying to hack my computer every time I turn the internet on, so these chapters might have a little bit of time between them seeing as how I'm going to have to use the library computers till we can get our internet fixed. Though, on the plus side, that should (hopefully) give me enough time to be able to do multiple chapters at once :)

Also, I've noticed some…. 'mixed' reviews to me vampify-ing Buffy. I did it for a reason. I thought it would be an interesting path to take seeing as how it's not something that's generally done. It's just a story, after all. : )

There is absolutely no need for snarky reviews…especially when they are criticizing my imagination. If you're criticizing my writing technique or if you're offering constructive criticism on something else, that's great. I appreciate it. After all, that's what the review feature is for, right?

If you don't like the story or if Buffy being a vamp offends you, that's fine. Just click off your browser and that's that. Done.

To all of you that have continued reading on and are still tracking the story, I thank you. Immensely! :) 

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

It'd taken me a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of things after…well, you know.

In the mean time, things with Dawn's secret non-admirer had gone from worse to horrible, working it's way up to helltastic. She was getting threatening letters every other day now.

She found the last one on her pillow after coming in from Merlotte's. This one was different. It wasn't necessarily a letter, no, it was more of a….diagram. There was a stick figure drawn in a ring of fire with Dawn's head plastered on it. Instead of her normally bright eyes, the person had drawn 'x's over them.

That's what currently had me driving over to Bon Temps this particular night. Instead of driving to Merlotte's, I was heading for Sookie's. Dawn was still pissed over the whole 'my sister's a vampire' thing. Rightfully so. I was still pissed over it.

It was winter time now so that meant that nightfall came sooner, around five-thirty. I arrived at Sookie's a little after six. I didn't even get out of the car. I just beeped and Sookie came bouncing out of the house.

It took less than a minute.

We were on official business tonight.

Our first stop was to the Shreveport office of Herveaux Construction. The plan was for me to fish around for verbal information while Sookie fished around in the heads of Dawn's coworkers. If that didn't work, well, then I could just glamour them and we'd get all we knew. I really was hoping it didn't come to that. I hate glamouring people.

We made it to the business a little before seven. We entered the small office building to find only one of the secretaries still there. She was short, probably about mid-to-late fifties and heavy set. She was bottle blonde and wore too much makeup.

Blue eye shadow. Blech.

I think that Dawn had introduced me to her once…Mrs. Lewis I think? I couldn't remember her first name.

She was visibly startled by our sudden appearance at her desk, a noticeable new side effect of my vamp-ness.

"Oh, Miss Summers. I didn't notice you come in. I'm afraid Dawn left a few hours ago."

I smiled as politely and as non-creepily as possible, ignoring the fact that she called me by my maiden name.

If vamp-human marriages weren't recognized by the law, which they weren't, then vamp-vamp marriages were even farther away.

"I wasn't actually looking for Dawn. I was hoping my friend Sookie and I could ask you a few questions, Mrs. Lewis."

"Oh, please dear, call me Eloise. Divorced, you know. What about?"

"About my sister actually. Has she been acting a little…strange lately?"

"Strange? What do you mean by strange?"

"Well, Eloise, I work for her boyfriend, Sam, at Merlotte's over in Bon Temps. For awhile now she's just seemed to be a little…off, if you know what I mean."

Sookie stared at the woman hard, reading her thoughts. Well, I'm assuming that's what she was doing.

Eloise shook her head. "No, she's been fine here. Her normal cheery, chipper self. Well, that is unless Mr. Herveaux is here. Ooooh boy. We all tend to clear out for lunch when they're in the office together."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Eloise."

"Well, I hate to be the one to gossip, 'specially about a girl as lovely as your sister—"

Sookie glanced at me and rolled her eyes, signifying that statement was the exact opposite.

"But?" Sookie pressed.

"Things have been real tense between them. Every time he's in the office here, the tension is so thick I swear you could cut it with a knife! Ever since they broke up-that's when she transferred here all that time ago, you know-"

I waved my hands, stopping her. "Wait. Did you say 'broke up'? Like…they were….dating?" I asked, shocked.

Eloise nodded. "Well yes, of course darlin'. I…I thought you knew. That was the whole reason for Dawn transferring from the office in Jackson to Shreveport. She couldn't stand to be around him anymore. Or so I heard."

I started to ask her why but Sookie smiled brightly, her nervous smile, and thanked Eloise for her time. She walked past me and gave the slightest nod telling me she got what we needed. She walked out to the car while I stayed at Eloise's desk.

I sighed, knowing what I had to do and turned back to her. I looked her straight in the eyes.

"Eloise…" I cooed.

Her eyes fixed onto mine. "Yes?" she responded immediately.

"Sookie and I were never here tonight. You never saw us. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "I understand."

I sighed. "Good. Now, close your eyes and sleep. You'll wake up in ten minutes and realize that you fell asleep at your desk. You will then pack up your stuff and go home for the night."

I let go of her eyes and she immediately fell asleep. I hurried out of the office and joined Sookie, who was waiting in the driver's seat of the car.

"We've got ten minutes to get out of this parking lot before she wakes up so get talking, Sook."

"I'll talk on the way." she said, throwing the car into reverse.

"To where?"

"Jackson."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"Jackson? Why are we going to Jackson?" I asked.

"Eloise is a definite broadcaster. She immediately thought of Alcide as soon as we walked in. From what I got, Alcide was in day before yesterday and him and Dawn got into a huge screaming match. She didn't think about what-just that it was big. And loud. And very, very angry. "

"If they used to date, I wonder if she told him about the threats? Or maybe Sam said something? You know, shifter to Were?"

"Buffy, Sam and Alcide get along fine, but in general that would never happen. Were's hate shifters and shifters hate Were's. You're a supe now. I would've thought you would've known that."

"Were and shifter politics were foreign to me _before_I was turned. They're even more confusing now. Just because I'm an official supe now doesn't mean I know everything, either. It's not like you wake up and a handbook suddenly appears on the bedside table. All I know is that vamps hate Were's and Were's hate vamps."

Sookie smiled. "I know that! I'm just saying that Alcide wouldn't be able to interfere because of the pack. He could get kicked out. Or something worse."

I nodded. "Probably something worse. Drive to my house first, before hopping on the interstate. We're going to need some supplies before we go road tripping off to Jackson."

"Like what?" Sookie asked. She flipped my car around in a perfectly maneuvered U-turn, without even affecting traffic one tiny bit. I bet if I tried that, there would've been a pile up.

"I want my scythe. If plan _'Ask Alcide nicely'_ doesn't work, I'm going to go with plan _'Scare the bejesus out of Alcide till he spills the beans_'."

"Awful long name for a plan." Sookie smiled as she turned into my driveway.

"Yeah, I never was really good with those." I said, getting out of the car.

I noted immediately that the house was dark still. Eric must've been at Fangtasia already. When I left to go to Sookie's, he was lounging on the couch, sipping a Tru Blood and catching up on the news.

Sookie waited in the car while I ran in quick. I blurred up the stairs, SO cool by the way, and grabbed my scythe from where she lay hidden-under the mattress on my side of the bed. Original, I know.

I picked her up and automatically a smile spread across my face. A warm, comforting feeling floated up throughout my body. A miracle in and of itself, seeing as how I was dead on the inside. Literally.

She emanated safety and security and sheer beauty.

By all means, I should no longer be wielding her at all on account of the vamp-ness. It should be Faith or one of the oth—no, Faith.

But for some reason, she still chooses to stay with me. It's weird…almost like she's alive, somehow.

At this point, I'm seriously not doubting that, actually. Maybe that explains why I keep referring to it as 'she' and 'her'.

I can tell it's her choice to stay. I pick her up and it's almost like an immediate energy rush. She hums and vibes all kinds of wonderful power.

Faith tried and she said she thought she felt something, but it was too dull to notice. And she said she definitely didn't get any sort of warm fuzzies from her.

Sookie thinks that my Slayer…'powers'…were magnified when I was turned. I agree with her. I remember a certain talk I had with a certain dark and mysterious vamp once and he said that would be the case.

I, coincidentally, didn't tell Eric that. If Xander and Riley had Dark Prince envy, then Eric was the exact opposite. He had more of the Dark Prince fan-boy thing going on. He's already questioned me relentlessly on my encounter with him and I've only told him the bare minimum. There's really only so much one person can take, after all!

On the topic of my Slayer-ness following me over to this life, Eric didn't say much when we discussed it. As per usual. He just said it was an interesting theory, grinned, mischievously of course, and ripped my clothes off.

I grabbed a duffel bag out my closet and tossed in some clothes for Sookie and myself. I wasn't planning on staying the night, but hey, you never know.

I blurred my way back down the stairs and grabbed a six pack of Tru Blood out of the fridge and some people snacks for Sookie.

Real food, that is. Not like, actual snacks made out of people. Gross.

I insisted on keeping real food in the house in case Dawn ever decided she wanted to talk to me again.

I grabbed one of the Tru Blood's out of the six pack and popped it in the microwave, sticking the rest in the duffel bag with everything else. I slung it over my shoulder, grabbed my TB out of the microwave and headed back to the car.

I tossed the bag in the backseat and took my place back in the front.

Sookie was still, apparently, adamant on driving. Not that I can blame her.

"What's the bag for? Planning on staying awhile?"

I took a long swig out of my bottle, taking a moment to savor it as it swam, thick and hot, down my throat.

Yep. Still disgusting.

"No, I'm not _planning_ on staying but I thought '_better safe than sorry'_, ya know?"

Sookie nodded in agreement as she drove. "Off to Jackson now?"

"Fangtasia first. It's probably smart I tell Eric what's going on. Ooh! Maybe he'll even offer to come and help!" I fantasized brightly.

Sookie knew better though.

"Nah. Not with everything that's going on. Dealing with the great King Bill, Fangtasia and not to mention his actual Sheriff-ing duties. We're not even close to lucky enough for that to happen."

We pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later. Sookie came in with me this time.

The bar looked seriously busy tonight. The line stretched out the door and halfway through the parking lot itself.

Okay, I won't lie. The sight had me envisioning and nearly drooling at the new Gucci dress I was probably going to get with all the money these people were forking over.

Instead of going in the back door like I normally would of, we slipped past the line. I was surprised to see one of the other female vamps outside, taking Pam's usual perch.

I didn't know the girl's name, but she looked fairly young and that repulsed me.

Maybe.

Depends on what year and century she was turned in.

She smiled and nodded politely at Sookie and I as we walked past her, towards the doors.

"Evening Mrs. Northman. Miss Stackhouse."

"Evenin'. Busy night?" Sookie asked, politely.

Nameless vamp girl didn't get a chance to answer though as she had to deal with some rowdy customers that weren't pleased at our line budging.

Inside, the bar was just as busy as I had thought. I searched around for Eric for a minute, but he didn't appear to be on the floor anywhere.

I grabbed Sookie's hand and led her safely through the crowd, back to the offices, silently grateful that tonight wasn't my night to be show-cased to the idiot public.

I opened the door to Eric's office and instead of finding my Viking honey, I found Bobby Burnham sitting at Eric's desk.

Bugh. Talk about disappointment.

"Bobby, where's Eric?" I asked as politely as possible.

"He and Pam had some…business to attend to."

I just nodded my head and left it at that.

Sheriff-y business stuff.

"Well, if you could just give Sookie and I minute here…we've got some things to grab before we leave."

I cursed myself as I said it.

Leave.

Now Bobby was going to get all snoopy and weird.

Well, weirder.

Unfortunately for me, I was right on the money and he picked up on it right away.

"Leave? Not staying in Shreveport tonight?"

"Bobby, I don't see how it's your business where Mrs. Northman goes or what she does." Sookie scolded, sternly.

Let me be the first to say that I had never had the pleasure of meeting Sookie's grandmother, Adele, but I could see her in Sookie right as she was scolding Bobby. And it was _wonderful._

He was obviously shocked at her scolding him like a little school boy. The priceless look on his face told me so.

"I'm staying over at Sookie's. She was feeling a bit lonely so I decided to go to ground there. I couldn't reach Eric on his phone." I lied.

Bobby nodded. "Of course. Wouldn't want the Master worrying about you, that's all. I'll excuse myself for a bit of fresh air."

His tone was very sarcastic and he knew it. Bastard. I hate him. I don't trust him at all. I might actually bite him.

Fortunately for him, he stepped out and shut the door before I could tear his throat out.

Ooh. That was violent. Sorry. Can't help it.

As soon as the door shut, I sat down at Eric's desk and left him a note about the new developments that we learned from Eloise and mine and Sookie's road trip to Jackson to see Alcide. Seeing as how it was getting later and later by the second, I also mentioned that we might not be back for a day or two but he was more than welcome to join us tonight. I told him I'd call if plans changed.

I pulled an envelope out of the drawer and sealed the note inside, addressing the front in a way that he would definitely know it was from me. ;)

I grabbed a couple more TB's out of the mini-fridge and Sookie and I were off to Jackson to confront a Were.

What we didn't see as we were leaving, was Bobby sneaking back into Eric's office and sliding my note into his jacket pocket.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Just a short chapter today! :) 

* * *

><p>Sookie stood behind me on Alcide's large porch.<p>

I banged loudly on the door for, like, the billionth time.

"Alright, alright! Give me a damn minute!" a husky voice replied from inside.

Moments later, the door opened to reveal possibly the most gorgeous Were I have ever laid eyes on.

Tall—_very_ tall. An almost olive-y complexion. Mass amounts of dark curls swirling around his head. Were.

And his body?

_Hoooolllyyyy Hellllll!_

Hotness to the extreme core.

And, to top it off, he answered the door in a towel…_a towel_.

"Buffy? Sookie? What're you all doing here?"

Before either of us could explain, my fangs clicked down.

It was _a lot_ easier to hide my lusty feelings before I was turned.

"Holy shit! Buffy? You're a fanger now?" Alcide yelled, jumping back in surprise.

"Yes. Please, by all means, let's announce it to the entire neighborhood." I replied, sarcastically.

"Alcide Herveaux! Don't you dare take that tone of voice with her! Now is not the time to be patronizing Buffy. Her….condition isn't her fault nor was it her choice. If you'd kindly let us in, we've got something important to discuss with you." Sookie scolded.

Alcide was quiet for a moment then nodded. Sookie pushed past him and entered the house.

Alcide walked away, leaving me out on the porch.

"Um….I have to be invited in!" I called after him.

"I know." he said, coming back to the door. He was holding a rather large stake in his hand. "Alright, come in."

I rolled my eyes as I walked through the door.

"Oh please. Like I'd bite you anyway."

"You're a fanger. A recently new one, I'm guessing. You have no control over your blood lust."

I laughed. "Yeah, no. I _so_ have control."

I inhaled deeply and wrinkled my nose at the scent that invaded my nostrils. "You smell like wet dog. No thanks."

A bit of that unpredictable Were temper flashed through his eyes. "No I—yeah, well, you smell like rotting flesh."

I pulled my scythe out from the back of my jeans.

"Son of a bitch! I _do not_ smell like rotting flesh! Sookie! Tell him I don't smell like rotting flesh!"

"What is it with you Summers' women? I swear to God….you're all insane!"

My fangs clicked back down, more in anger than lusty feelings this time. "Okay, that's it. You're so dinner now. Wet dog or not."

"CHILDREN!" Sookie yelled. "Please….can we settle down? Let's take the super emotions down a notch, huh? Buffy, remember what we're here for."

I, unnecessarily, took a deep breath.

"Sookie's right. I apologize for saying you smell like a wet dog."

Alcide sighed. "Okay. What do you want?"

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Alcide! Apologize to Buffy. She doesn't smell like rotting flesh."

"Fine. I'm sorry. What do you want? It's late and I have businesses to run early in the morning."

"You came to the Shreveport office the other day. Eloise said that you got into a very angry argument with my sister? What about?"

"I believe that's between Dawn and myself."

"Seeing as how she's been on the receiving end of numerous death threats, it's safe to say that it's now my business as well."

"What?"

"She's been getting them for months now. We only just found out." Sookie explained.

"She wanted to take some time off. I didn't tell her no, I just told her not right now. We're too busy….I didn't know."

"And now don't you feel like an asshole?"

"Buffy!"

"Sorry, Sookie."

"Honest to God—I didn't know. I had a feeling something was up but after the way we ended things, I didn't think she'd tell me."

"Which brings me to my next point…why was I left in the dark about your relationship?"

"Buffy, we're not here for that."

"Your not her mother. She can date who she wishes. She doesn't have to report back to you."

"No, but I'm the only family she's got left. It's my responsibility to protect her. I'm not saying necessarily from you, but your pack. Not all Weres are as….nice…as you are. Perhaps one of them didn't like you two dating, didn't get the memo that you split up and are now harassing her to the point of death threats."

"How'd she take the news?" Alcide asked, ignoring my comment.

I sighed. "It's been weeks. She won't even look at me. Sam invited me in their trailer and she rescinded the invitation as soon as I stepped through the door. I walk into Merlotte's, she walks out. I call, it goes straight to voicemail."

We were all silent for a few moments before Alcide spoke up again.

"If you don't mind me asking…"

"Bill Compton is a prick. He's had it out for Eric for, well, I'm not sure how long. A while. Our little stunt in revealing his douchebag-ness to Sookie didn't help matters. As soon as he became King of Louisiana, he decided to get all with the revenge. I honestly really don't think it actually had anything to do with that, I just think he was using it as an excuse."

"So he turned you?"

"Ew, no. I would never be Bill's sire _ever_. He made Eric do it. Ultimate Ultimatum. Either Eric had to turn me or else Bill was going to have me executed. Trust me—this is not the life I would have chosen. Kind of frowned upon in my line of work."

Alcide stood quietly, contemplating.

"I'm going to help you."

"Wait! What? Really?" I asked.

"What about the pack?" Sookie asked.

"They don't have to know. And if they find out, well, I'm sure they won't like having a Slayer-turned-Vamp on their asses."

I smiled. "Thank you. I mean that."

"You're welcome. Tomorrow night. I'll take you to Club Dead. It's a kind of Supes-only bar. Sookie, you can filter around the minds there. It's a long shot but you've gotta start somewhere. I've got an extra bedroom upstairs that you can use. Buffy, I'm afraid I've only got a dirt basement."

I wrinkled my nose again. "Does Sookie's room have a closet?"

He nodded.

"Much better. I can do closets. Sleeping in the ground gives me a wiggins."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Only a few chapters left now! Things are getting exciting! :)

**Chapter Ten**

The next evening was eventful, to say the least. We were at Club Dead by nine. Early for most vamps, but just right for most humans and Weres.

Sookie and I were undercover so we thought we should look that way. Alcide's sister, Janice, had come over at sunset and dolled us up. Sookie was wearing a wig made of dark brown ringlets and far too much makeup. She was wearing a super short denim mini skirt, a hot pink crop top and a pair of way too high, silver, sparkly stilettos.

I donned a straightened, layered jet black wig with side bangs. My makeup was more Goth but still wayyy too much. I wore a strapless black and purple corset that pointed into a 'V' shape at the bottom, black leather pants and combat boots.

Alcide wasn't going to enter with us. We didn't want to look too suspicious. He went in first. Sookie and I waited about ten minutes and then followed suit.

Alcide eyed us carefully as we strode in. He put the proper look of disgust on his face for my vampness. The look he gave Sookie….well, it wasn't in disgust at all.

Club Dead, or Josephine's, which is it's proper name, was your typical Supe bar. I do have to say how weird it was seeing vamps, Weres and shifters mingling. Like they didn't all hate each other.

Sookie and I sat at the bar. She ordered a fancy girly drink. I ordered an A+. Yuck.

We chatted idly, but I mostly remained quiet, not wanting to distract Sookie from her task. I opted to spend my time thinking of ways I could murder Bill and not get staked for it.

Two hours, five girly drinks, four TB's and a hundred and forty-seven dance requests later, we were still showing zilch.

"Wanna pack it in? I'm not getting anything." Sookie huffed.

I nodded. I figured as much. I mean, it goes back to that whole who is actually thinking "I'm planning on murdering this person and burying their body here." thing.

"Yeah, we might as well." I said, standing up.

I looked over and quickly nodded to Alcide that we were leaving. He didn't nod back but he understood. Their was a lady clinging all over him and he didn't look too pleased about it. I wanted to walk over and help him out, but I figured that the presence of a vamp probably would only cause trouble. She seemed the super hateful type. My super-super hearing had detected a few vamp insults spewing from her lips earlier in the evening.

We were getting our things together when dance request number one-forty-eight walked up to us. I wrinkled my nose at his scent. Full blown Were. Even yuckier than synthetic blood.

His look told me he felt the same about me. His attention shifted fully onto Sookie.

"Hey there hot stuff. What're you doing hanging around with this nasty ass fanger bitch?"

He was short, for a guy, and had spiky, blonde, d-bag hair. He was wearing a plaid shirt, all the way unbuttoned of course, and ripped up jeans.

Pffft. Who the hell dressed like that? Sookie and I may have been painted up like skanks, but I mean, seriously. Button up your damn shirt.

I smiled sweetly at him, even though the Slayer in me wanted to knock him out and the vamp in me wanted to rip him limb from limb. I made sure to show a little fang.

"Aww, how sweet. However, if we're being technical, your mother is the bitch, Lassie."

His eyes widened in anger. "It would be really dumb of you to anger me, bloodsucker. Half my pack is here. We could tear you to shreds in seconds."

I grinned. "I'd like to see you try, Benji."

Slayer abilities come straight from vamp abilities. Mine are more enhanced from endless years of training with Giles. The kind of vamp I am is a different breed than the normal bumpy faced freaks of Sunnydale. They're more evolved. Faster, stronger and—thank God—prettier.

Therefore, super evolved vamp abilities plus super enhanced Slayer abilities equals me taking out the whole damn bar, single handedly.

I didn't though. No worries. Like I said earlier, I've only killed one person. And that was one person too many. Even though they really really deserved it.

"What'd you say?" snarled dog boy.

I opened my mouth but Sookie elbowed me, probably hurting herself more than me.

"Nothin'. Sorry 'bout that. My sister is just a little protective of me. We're actually here lookin' for our baby sister….Pam. She's run away. Momma's real worried 'bout her."

If there was one thing that ever constantly surprises me about Sookie Stackhouse, it's her ability to lie. She does it like a pro.

"She's right." I said, as civilly as possible. "My apologies. Even in my unfortunate, vampiric state, I'm not usually so asinine." I fibbed, using the biggest word I could think of. Most Weres aren't as smart as Alcide. Using big words confuses them. :]

"My name is….Tara. And my sister is…Anya." I added. I figured Anya and Tara wouldn't mind being our fake names for the evening. Better than using Faith's. Word to the wise—never use Faith's name as your fake name. I speak from experience.

"Unfortunate, vampiric state? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

I sighed. "It means, ass-face, that I didn't choose to be a vamp. I was sired against my will."

He mulled that over for a few minutes before a disgusting grin spread across his face.

"That is the biggest load of shit I've ever heard, fanger." He turned to Sookie. "If you're looking for that sister of yours, have you thought to ask the bloodsucker? She probably ate her or some sick shit like that."

I could feel the flames of pure, bubbling anger rise throughout me. There was nothing more I wanted at that very moment than to tear him limb from limb. Before I could act on my impulses, however, Alcide chose the exact right moment to step in.

"Is there a problem here, Alvin?" Alcide said, stepping in between the Were and myself.

My face lit up. "Alvin? Alvin. Like the tv show? I wasn't aware that someone could be a Were-chipmunk." I said, not even bothering to contain my laughter.

Sookie wrapped her arm around my waist and pushed me forward. "I think we should go now Bu—Tara. We don't want no trouble now."

I nodded. I threw a quick wink at Alcide and he nodded back. Once we got outside, I was in a bit better shape, sanity wise. We walked down the street silently, towards our car.

I stopped in my tracks and sniffed the air. It taken a shift from the normal city smell to more of a….wet dog, too much cologne and alcohol smell.

Sookie looked at me curiously. "What?"

I turned, putting her behind me. "Stay close. And use your gift." I whispered.

Six Weres came out from an adjacent side alley. They were bigger than good ol' Alvin and definitely tougher looking.  
>Well, tougher if I wasn't a badass Slayer-vamp, that is.<p>

I smiled. "Hello boys. What can we help you with this evening?"

One that appeared to be the leader of the group, leaned over and looked at the Were closest to him. "Get me the picture."

The Were did as commanded and pulled a photo out of his pocket.

Leader Were examined them against both Sookie and I. I didn't need to be a telepath to know what was going on.

I launched an attack, immediately. It was over just as quick as I had launched it. I knocked out the three to the right and then the three to the left, managing to not kill a single one of them. I grabbed the photos from where they had landed on the ground.

I grabbed Sookie and ran us to the car, tossing her in the front seat. As soon as she was buckled in, we were speeding back towards Louisiana.

_

"The Were from the bar was the decoy. He blocked us off so the group that assaulted us could leave." Sookie said.

We were well into Louisiana now, thanks to my hectic driving. I bypassed going back to Alcide's. We were very clearly being followed and I didn't want to implicate him in anything.

"They knew everything about you. Former Head Slayer. Pledged wife to Eric and recently made vamp." Sookie continued.

"Which means they obviously know who Eric is."

"Exactly."

"So…is it something to do with Dawn's situation? Or something completely different all together?" I asked, getting off the exit ramp to Bon Temps.

"I honestly don't think so. I got the impression they had nothing to do with Dawn."

"Which means this is something new to be a giant pain in my ass."

"And I thought my life was crazy." Sookie smiled.

"I don't think it's safe for you to go home." I said, going for a brief subject change.

"I can handle myself perfectly fine, thank you."

"So can Dawnie and look at the mess she's in. My point is, Weres can go out in the day. Eric and I can't. I'd feel much better knowing that you were safe during the day, Sook."

She sighed, defeated. "Okay, fine. Drop me off with Jason and Faith then."

A Were-panther and a Slayer were about the best protection she was going to get during the day, so I did just that.

Not saying that these Weres would for sure go after her, but I just wanted to play it safe, seeing as how I had absolutely no idea who I was dealing with on that front.

After I dropped Sookie off, I drove straight back to Shreveport. The last couple of days had been seriously long. All I was wanting as I walked through my side door was to hop into our super tub for a nice, relaxing bath with my honey.

What I got instead, was ambushed by said honey. Not in the loving, sexy 'I missed you so much' way, either.

"Where have you been?" he yelled, angrily, grabbing me by my shoulders.

"Eric! What the hell?"

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" he said, a little more calmly. Funny thing, it was still borderline yelling.

"Eric, let go."

He did as requested and took up pacing the floors. I could see just how worried he had been. His already pale skin had turned to a dull ash color. His eyes were wide and they almost looked sunken in. He actually looked, gulp, dead.

I stepped further into the house, dropping my bag on the floor. I walked over and sat myself down on the couch. Eric continued pacing the floor, hopefully calming himself down.

"Where were you?" he asked quietly, after a few very long, very awkward minutes.

"I'm taking it that you didn't get my note."

"What note?" he asked, perplexed.

"Sookie and I got some leads on Dawn. We were in Jackson, checking them out. I left a note for you on your desk at Fangtasia, semi-explaining it all. You were supposed to call as soon as you got it."

Eric pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it at me.

"Kind of hard for me to reach you when you leave your phone behind. Bobby found it on the floor, in my office."

"Eric, I swear I left you a note. Sookie saw me write it and Bobby had to have seen it sitting on your desk after we left. In fact, I told him I was leaving. I mean, granted I lied about where I was going, but still, I figured that when he told you I was at Sookie's, you would've caught on."

Eric's look changed very quickly. He stopped pacing and walked over to me.

"You told Bobby you were leaving?"

I nodded.

"You told him you were going to Sookie's?"

I nodded again. "Yeah. Eric, what—"

He sat down next to me and smiled a small smile that I knew well from his Sheriff-ing duties. The 'I've been lied to and now you're going to pay' smile. Yeouch.

"He never told me that. When I asked him if he'd seen you last night, he told me no."

"I knew I didn't trust that creep. He must've taken the note after Sookie and I left."

Eric put his arms around me and pulled me in closer to him. I laid my head on his chest.

"Yes…that must be the case. Unless…"

"Unless he's working for someone else." I finished.

"Exactly."

"Whatever. I don't even care right now. Whatever is going on with him and the Weres is just going to have to wait till I'm done dealing with Dawn's problem. I can only handle so many crises at once."

Contrary to popular belief, vamps can and do get stressed out. I'm living, well, un-living proof.

Eric looked down at me. "Weres?"

I sighed. "Alcide took Sookie and I to Club Dead tonight to see if she could hear anything about Dawn. Definite long shot, sure but we had to try something. Sookie and I think this whole thing is something to do from when she lived there and in my experience, when you want info, you go to Supe bars. Sookie was accosted by some stupid pup when we were trying to leave. He and I exchanged some…pleasantries. Alcide, thankfully, intervened. Sookie and I left. Halfway to the car, I realized we were being followed. Six Weres. I knocked them all out before they had a chance to phase. For some, ridiculous reason, they were carrying around a picture of me."

I pulled said picture out of my pocket and handed it to Eric, who studied it carefully.

"You were very young in this picture."

I glanced at it. "High school-ish."

"The Weres were sent after you. By someone that wouldn't know what you look like now."

"Oh, because I didn't have a massive list of enemies in high school. Then add in the demons."

Eric smiled a little at my joke.

"Though, for not knowing what I look like now, they knew an awful lot about me. Sookie picked their brains and they knew everything. Everything. Including my vampness."

"That's odd. Very, very odd. But you are right in saying that Dawn's problems come first. What have you learned from your trip?"

I sighed and sat up. "Not much. Dawn and Alcide dated. Broke up. She moved back here. Alcide had no idea that she was being threatened. And the only real piece of info we learned from Club Dead was that some wolves are after me."

Eric looked me over and raised an eyebrow. "So, Club Dead would be the reason for this?" he asked, flipping up a piece of black hair from my shoulder.

I laughed. I had honestly forgotten all about my skanky little get up.

"Sookie and I dressed undercover. I went with 'stereotypical Goth vampire'. Sook went with 'skanky trailer trash.' It was kind of fun. Not being myself for a night. Even though I didn't really do much besides sit at a bar, drinking A+'s."

I could feel Eric's mood change. He grinned mischievously.

"You don't have to stop now. Your…costume…is quite…eye-catching….and there's still another two hours till sunrise, lover."

(The next evening)

My eyes flipped open and I sat straight up, my thoughts and nerves all in a massive panic.

Normally, vamps don't dream. I haven't had one dream since I was turned.

But today….today was very different.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead, trying to get the mental images to either piece themselves together or go away entirely.

I haaaaaaaate cryptic messages. With a fiery passion.

Dawn and Sam were standing in the middle of a room together. Laughing, kissing, hugging.

Happy.

Suddenly, the room was engulfed in flames.

I turned around to call for help, but no one would come. No one wanted to help the freaks.

I turned back around and Sam was no longer there. It was just Dawn.

I tried to move, to help her, but I couldn't. I was stuck in place.

I watched as she stood there, screaming for me to help her, in complete agony, as her body was engulfed in flames.

"Sweetheart, what is it?"

I felt Eric's strong arms wrap around me. I opened my eyes and allowed myself to take some comfort in his arms. He lifted my head in his hands and wiped away my massive bloody tears.

Before I could tell him what I saw, I heard my phone start to ring. Somehow, I knew who it was. And I knew it was bad.

I jumped out of bed and blurred down the stairs, not caring one bit about my nakedness. I grabbed my phone from it's spot on the counter, yanking it off the charger and snapping the cord in the process. I felt Eric by my side.

"Sookie, what is it? What's wrong?"  
>I could hear her muffled cries.<p>

"Merlotte's was fire-bombed." 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The usual hour long trip to Bon Temps took merely minutes as Eric descended from the air. I raced, nearly full vamp speed, into the hospital. The nurse behind the info desk was visibly startled at my sudden appearance.

"Dawn Summers. Room number." was all I could manage to spit out in my frazzled state.

She just stared at me.

"Please. Dawn Summers. Room number." I said, a little more agitated.

"You're a vamp." she muttered, in shock.

I sighed heavily, preparing to retort when Eric thankfully stepped in.

"Dawn Summers is her sister. My wife is very worried about her so please pardon her rudeness. We would very much appreciate it if you would pass her room number along to us." he smiled, charismatically.

Glamouring. Duh.

I'm seriously probably the worst vamp ever. I never remember the basic stuff like that.

"Floor 5W, room number 31." the nurse drawled out, in her goofy, glamoured state.

I stood in the elevator, fidgeting anxiously. Eric pulled me into his arms and I melted into him.

"It will be okay, lover." he assured, rubbing my back and kissing my forehead.

I remained silent, burying my head into his shoulder area.  
>The elevator doors opened several horrifyingly long moments later to reveal the tiny waiting area of floor 5W.<p>

Sookie, Faith, Jason and to my sorta-surprise, Alcide, were seated in one corner of the waiting room. 'Sheriff' Andy Bellefleur was in the opposite corner, talking quietly with his cousin, Terry, and Lafayette.

Terry was a nice guy. Little crazy, but nice. If I remembered correctly, he had been helping Lafayette out in the kitchen at Merlotte's for a couple of years now.

I forgot about them and ambushed Sookie.

"What happened? How's Dawn? What's wrong with her? Sam? Do we know who did it? Are there any clues? Where do I point Mr. Scythe-y.?" I rambled off at super speed.

"Buffy, sit." Sookie said, quietly, patting the empty chair next to her.

"No. Every single time someone tells you to sit, it's bad news. Just tell me…how is she?"

She sighed but nodded her head. "Unconscious but stable. She's got a few broken bones but overall the doctor's think she'll be okay. It's Sam that…well, he's not doing well at all."

At this point, she broke down in silent tears.

"He's burnt pretty bad…a lot of broken bones. A few pretty serious gashes." she cried. Jason pulled his sister close and comforted her.

"Dawnie. Can I see her?" I whispered.

Faith stood up and grabbed my hand, leading me down the hall. She turned and the sight in the room was just…horrible.

The doctor's had kept Dawn and Sam in the same room. They were both unconscious, as Sookie had said, and hooked up to a lot of various machinery.

Dawn's leg was up in a sling, as was an arm, indicating her broken bones.

Sam's body was covered in all kinds of bandages, to the point where if I hadn't of known better, I might not have recognized him as Sam. One of his arms was also in a sling. His machine beeped slowly, indicating a shallow heartbeat.

"When the nurse took his temp a while ago, it was real low. Weres and shifters run at a good hundred degrees or so."

I recognized Alcide's voice from the doorway, not realizing that Faith had left me alone. Though, if we're being honest, I noticed Alcide by his wet dog stench, but this wasn't the time or the place.

"I don't know what exactly happened. I mean, with the bombing. Sookie called and I didn't let her get much out before I raced over here."

I pulled Dawnie's hand into mine and squeezed it, gently. I could feel my bloody tears start to spill over.

"Mr. Herveaux, mind if I have a word with Miss Summers' sister? In private?"

Great. All I needed was Andy friggin Bellefleur breathing down my back.

The dog stench evaporated and I took that as Alcide's compliance.

"Miss Summers—"

"Northman. Buffy Northman."

"Vamp marriages aren't recognized by the public. You're still Buffy Summers."

"Yes, and when I was still human, I had my named legally changed to Northman. Get on with it." I said, rigidly. I was in no mood for this.

"Whatever." he drawled out, roughly. Apparently he wasn't in the mood either. "On the topic of your…humanity, are there any…enemies of yours or Mr. Northman's that you think would've targeted your sister and Sam?"

"Too many." I replied.

"Well, I'd like it if you could make up a list-"

"Sheriff Bellefleur, I'm not going to make you a list of all our enemies. Do you know why?"

"Why?

"If it was truly something to do with Eric or myself, there would be nothing you could do to stop the persons or, well, non-persons responsible. You would only get yourself killed in the process."

I let go of Dawn's hands and wiped my blood stained face off with my sleeve, turning back to face him.

"I appreciate that you're looking into this, I do, however, I'm kindly asking you to back off."

"Are you kiddin' me? I'm the law! It's my duty!"

"Not anymore it's not."

"Who in the hell do you vamps think you are? You can't just come walking into a criminal investigation and take over 'cause it involves your family!"

I walked till I was standing as close to eye-to-eye I as I could be with him.

"Andy, we know." I whispered.

This seemed to intrigue him. He straightened up a bit and cocked an eyebrow.

"Know what?"

"That you're using V."

All the color drained from his face. He was silent for quite a long time before responding. I'm assuming he was trying to not lose his composure. Or to regain it. Not really sure.

"I am not. I am a man of the law! I arrest scumbags for that!"

I sighed. "Andy, I'm not an idiot. It's even more obvious now that I'm a vamp. And it was pretty damn obvious before I was turned. So here's how it's going to work. You're going to back off and let me deal with this or else Eric and I stop sparing your life and we go to Bill Compton. "

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"He's King of the Louisiana vampires. It's in his authority to punish those using and selling V. Human, Were, Shifter, Witch, Human. Doesn't matter. It's technically in his right to do what he sees fit. Right, Eric?"

"That's correct, lover. As much as I…dislike Bill, he is our King and we are committing an act of treason by not telling him. I feel that you owe us a great favor for that." he agreed, walking in from the doorway.

"Several great favors." I added.

Andy thought it over for a few minutes before nodding his approval. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, number one is stop using the V. No excuses. Just stop. Number two is getting rid of any supply you have. Drive it as far away from here as you possibly can. Number three is telling us everything, well, if anything at all, that you found at Merlotte's."

"Alright. But before you go traipsing all through my crime scene, you might wanna read this. It was found outside the bar."

Andy handed a small piece of paper to me before heading out of the room.

_"Burn, bitch, burn. Die, bitch,_ **die**_."_

Eric and I stormed back into the waiting area.

"Eric and I are going to go scope out the scene at Merlotte's. Faith, I want you in the room with Dawn and Sam."

Faith nodded. Alcide stood up as well.

"I'll stay in there with them. Never can have too much muscle."

"Good." I agreed.

"I'm coming with you." Sookie said, walking over to Eric and I.

"Are you sure? It's got a chance of danger." I warned.

"When don't ya'll bring danger into my life?" she semi-smiled.

"If Sook's goin', then so am I." Jason said, standing up.

I didn't really want any police-ness there, hence me telling Andy off, but as Sookie's brother, I really couldn't tell Jason 'no'. Also, his werepanther nose could come in pretty handy, especially if it was a vamp scent we were looking for.

"Fine. But stay out of mine and Eric's way."

"No offense 'cause I don't want either of ya'll to tear me apart, but fuck all'a this. I'm goin' home and gettin' some sleep." Lafayette said.

_

Merlotte's wasn't as badly damaged as one would've thought from a fire bombing.

I mean, it was completely uninhabitable, yeah, but still, better than a pile of ashes.

"So, what can ya'll do that the police force couldn't?"

"Your nose will be better for sniffing out vamp scents, Jason, if there are any that is. Eric and I will be more effective in picking up Were scents, 'cause, you know, ew."

"Hey, at least we don't go around smelling like dead flesh." Jason retorted back to me.

"Jason Stackhouse!" Sookie scolded.

"Sorry."

"Never mind it. Just, you and Sookie go over that way. Buffy and I will go over this way."

"Wait!" I said, holding my hand up.

I took in a big, well, um, _sniff_. The scent that filled my nostrils was increasingly familiar.

"What is it, Buff?" Sookie asked.

"Eric, do you smell this? All around this woodsy, patchy area here."

He walked over and inhaled deeply.

"Not vampire, yet not human. Which would indicate Were or a Shifter, possibly a witch."

"Wait, what? Witches? As in, you know…witches? Real, live actual _witches_?" Jason asked.

"There's numerous breeds of vampires, Weres and Shifters and you're having difficulty believing in witches?" Eric asked, skeptically.

"It's not a witch." I stated, ignoring their mini-convo.

"How—"

"Witch-Fu smells different. More power, less….stink. Usually."

"Stink?" Sookie asked.

"This is definitely Were stench."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Jason. You know what I meant."

"Is it, well, I mean…the Weres from Jackson?" Sookie asked.

"No. The scent is different. They were very…manly. Smelling. This is more….light, airy. Feminine."

Eric and I whipped our heads towards the road.

"Someone's coming." Eric said, quietly.

"How do you know they're coming here?" Jason asked, curiously.

"Let's call it a hunch. About…mile and a half…two miles off." I answered.

"I'd say it's quite lucky that you drove us over here in your police car, Jason." Eric smirked.

I didn't need to have Sookie's ability to know what he was thinking.

"Perfect." I smiled.

"Okay, kinda in the dark over here. Not really used to that. Fill us in, please?" said Sookie.

"Jason, I want you to hang around here and sift through stuff, like you're investigating. Buffy, Sookie and I will be farther back in the bushes. Sookie, if I could oblige you to use your talents…"

"Got it." Sookie smiled.

"What do I do? Besides sift through stuff?" Jason asked, nervously.

"Be a cop. Keep whomever it is talking long enough for Sookie to read through their thoughts. I have faith in you—oh God, I just said that didn't I?"

I shook my head trying to get the mental visions out of my head.

"Just be…cop-like. Make Gran proud. Eric and Buffy won't let anything bad happen to either of us." Sookie said, reassuringly.

"Right. Cop-like."

I pulled Sookie back into hiding with Eric and I and motioned for Jason to start.

Moments later, a car pulled into the parking lot, just like Eric and I had thought. Jason's car was parked far enough in the back that it was nearly invisible until you got out.

The car was old, rusty and just plain crappy.

A woman got out, probably late twenties, reddish hair and severely trashy clothing. Ridiculously low rise jeans, way too high heels, a flashy top that barely covered anything and a far-too-tight fitting leather jacket.

I stared at her for the longest moment, while she stood next to her car, till it hit me. Her scent. The same, light, airy feminine one I had smelt only minutes earlier.

I nodded slightly to Eric.

"Buffy," Sookie whispered. "That's the girl from Club Dead. The one that was hanging all over Alcide."

"Hey there, can I help you, ma'am?" Jason said, walking around the side of the bar.

The girl was clearly shocked, not expecting anyone, much less part of the police, to be here.

She didn't respond. She just stayed put, by her open car door.

"This is an official crime scene, ma'am. I'm afraid you can't be here." he said again, walking closer.

He inhaled and exhaled quickly.

"Oh, you a Were? I'm a Were-panther myself. What are you? Or are you just a plain ol' Were?"

That seemed to snap her out of her daze a bit.

"Plain ol' Were? Are you kidding me? That's blasphemy coming from a disgusting sub-species such as yourself." she hissed.

"What's your name?"

"Like I'd tell you."

"You know, your scent is really familiar. Do I know you?"

"Doubt it. My pack doesn't associate with your kind."

"So then your scent…well, that's funny 'cause it smells an awful like one that I picked up from that spot right over there just a bit earlier in the day."

"It's her. It's definitely her." Sookie confirmed, in a hushed tone.

He glanced over towards us real quick and I nodded.

"Look, sweetheart, it's over. I know that all this was you. So why don't I just take you down to the station and we can talk it over a bit."

"You're pretty smart for bein' one of them Hotshot panthers."

"Yeah, well, you're pretty dumb for leavin' your scent all around." Jason countered.

I wouldn't be lying if I said that I wasn't at all shocked by that great of a comment coming from him. Jason Stackhouse for the win.

She looked him over. "Yeah, well, I guess we'll have to erase that memory."

"Oh my God! She's got a gun in her hand!" Sookie exclaimed in a not-so-whispery tone.

The girl grabbed the gun and aimed. Before I could even move, Eric jumped from the bushes and dove in front of Jason, taking several bullets. He and Jason fell in a tangled, bloody mess.

I jumped out from the bushes, leapt over the hood of the car and took her down, knocking the gun from her hand.

Sookie rushed over to check on Eric and Jason. I wasn't too concerned about Eric. I mean, getting shot hurts like a bitch but he didn't explode into a million pieces so that meant they were regular bullets. He would be fine after a bit of blood.

I rolled the woman over so I was on top of her. Her hands clawed furiously at me.

"Get off me, you fucking bloodsucker!" she yelled, reaching for the gun. I grabbed it before she could and snapped it in half.

"Guns? They're never useful. Now, tell me your name." I commanded.

"What's it to you, fanger?"

"You're the one that's responsible for the fire bombing. You didn't deny it and my good friend Sookie over there? She confirmed it. She has special talents in the mind reading department."

"Yeah, okay. I did it." she said, simply.

"Oh, a confession. How lovely. That means that you're the one that put my sister in the hospital."

She stopped squirming and looked up at me.

"Sister? That bitch has a fanger for a sister?" she laughed.

"I'm afraid to ask but how is that at all funny?"

"She stole my fiancé, who's a Were. And she's got a fanger for a sister!"

The laughter was taking a turn for the crazy.

"Who is your fiancé?" I asked, seriously.

She continued to laugh. I grabbed her by the throat and pushed down.

The crazy laughter turned into loud coughing.

"Now tell me, who is your fiancé?"

"Alcide Herveaux." she said through the coughing fit.

Suddenly, every single puzzle piece slid into its perfectly designated slot.

Dawn keeping hers and Alcide's relationship a secret. The reason why they stopped seeing each other. Why Dawnie moved back here after they split. The notes. Everything. It all made sense.

Except…

"Why so long? They've been split for well over three years."

"She was just living with that Shifter as a cover. I saw her and Alcide together. In his office in Jackson."

"She works for him you moron."

She took advantage of my momentary lapse at her idiocy and knocked me off from her.

She got up pretty fast but thanks to the vamp-ness and advanced Slayer-ing, I was still way quicker. I grabbed her by the arm and railed her into the crappy old car.

"There's the fanger coming out." she laughed.

"You tried to murder my sister." I growled. "I don't really take kindly to people doing that. Human or not."

"You're a rare one. I can see you holding back. I can see it. In your eyes. The human and the vampire fighting it out. Which one is going to win?" she taunted.

She had a point there. Except it was the vampire and the Slayer fighting it out. And sad to say, the vampire was winning.

I looked past her and saw a bunch of vials of V laying on her front seat. Empty vials. And suddenly, even more was explained. She was a V addict. The extra strength. The craziness. Right next to those was an envelope-an unpaid bill probably-addressed to one Debbie Pelt.

She was fighting and squirming under my grip. I kneed her in the hip and she slashed me across the face.

I fell to the ground in searing pain. It felt like my entire face was on fire. I screamed loudly. I tried to pull whatever was attached to my face off but I couldn't. As soon as I touched it, my hands had the same fiery feeling. I felt another set of hands on me and I tried to push them away.

"Buffy, Buffy. Shh. It's Sookie. It's a silver bracelet. I'm going to pull it off."

I stopped flailing and Sookie ripped the chain off. I screamed louder as flesh ripped away with the chain.

"Sorry!" she cringed.

I stood up slowly. My fangs were out from the pain, but mostly probably from the red flares of anger that were shooting through every vein in my body.

Eric had a hold on Debbie and Jason was helping to keep her hold stable. Eric's bullet wounds were slowing him down a bit so I'm sure he was grateful for the help.

"Nice face." Debbie smirked.

I ran my hand up the side of my face. It felt rough, bumpy and gross.

I walked confidently over and grabbed Debbie from their grips. The vampire was at full surface now and she was _pissed_.

I thrashed her back towards her car and she flew through the windshield, cracking it into a thousand tiny pieces. I smashed the cracked glass in the window in the drivers side door and pulled her through. She was bleeding pretty well now and the smell was taunting me.

She laughed halfheartedly. "I hope your little slut-bitch sister dies, fanger."

At that, I lost it. My anger had been dangerously close to topping off before, but now it was off the charts. Mix that with pure adrenaline and the vamp-ness….

I looked down at Debbie's neck and I could see her veins pulsing.

"Buffy! Don't! It's not worth it!" Sookie said. She ran up behind me and tried to pull me away but I was already too far gone into Vamp-land.

I elbowed her off me. Debbie's veins continued their enchanting, pulsating dance.

Before the reasonable half of my brain (Slayer) could get a word in, I slashed my fangs through Debbie's throat. The blood flowed down, hot and savory, satiating my entire body. I felt Debbie's body contract and then I felt her heartbeat start to slow, before eventually giving out. Her body went limp and the blood flow stopped.

The immense euphoria her blood had given me lifted and I realized what I had done.

I gasped loudly, covering my mouth with my hand, and dropped her body to the ground. I felt the bloodstained tears start to drip from my eyes.

Eric rushed over and pulled me away from the gory mess that was Debbie Pelt's death.

"I…I don't know what came over me. One minute I was so in control and then the next…"

"Shhh, it's okay, lover. It's okay." Eric cooed, pulling me into him.

I remembered Jason and Sookie…and oh my god I remembered hitting Sookie.

I pulled out of Eric's grip and ran over to her. She was standing, but holding her mid-section very tightly.

"Oh God, Sook! I'm so sorry."

The bloody tears started up again.

"We, um, we…should get rid of the body. And her car." Jason said, speaking up. He had been relatively quiet.

"I'll handle that." Eric said.

I turned away as he grabbed up Debbie's body and stuffed it in her trunk.

"Meet us back at my place, kay?" Sookie said.

Eric nodded and drove off to cover up my mess.

After he was gone, Jason pulled Sookie away from me. But I could still hear them. Vamp hearing. Super vamp hearing now that I had…..fed. Duh, Jason. Duh.

"Sook, I don't know if you should be bringing her over. I don't think it's safe."

"Jason Stackhouse, you quit that thinking right now. She didn't mean it. She needs help and we're going to help her."

"Sookie…"

"Know what Gran would say right about now? Remember how Buffy made it her mission to get you out of that God-forsaken Fellowship? She saved your life by doing that. And she's saved my life more times than she's threatened it. Now it's our turn to help her. You should be ashamed."

She turned her back to him and walked over to me. "Forget about Jason. He—"

"He's right, Sookie. I'm dangerous." I said, quietly.

"Oh no you're not. Not to me, anyway. Now let's go get you cleaned up. You very well can't go back into the hospital looking like death warmed over."

"Neither can you." I sighed, looking her over. I used my fangs to crack open my wrist and handed it over to Sookie.

"Here. I'm the one that hurt you so therefore I'm the one to fix you up. Just…...don't pay any mind to the dreams, okay?"

Sookie smiled a small smile. "Buffy, I just witnessed you murder someone. I'm pretty sure I can handle a couple of awkward dreams."


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_**(Two months later)**_

My guilt with letting my Vamp side take over subsided eventually.

Dawn and Sam were fine. Well, not fine, but they are alive and on the road to healing and that's what matters.

The story of Debbie Pelt is staying safely locked in the minds of the four of us. Well, Faith and Pam knew too, but they definitely weren't going to tell anybody. We just simply told Dawn that her problem had been taken care of and that was that.

Merlotte's is on it's way to being rebuilt and to ease my guilt over hurting Sookie, I made her take the job of being Eric's day manager. It's not like Bobby Burnham needed the job anymore.

At this particular point in my life, I was sitting in Sookie's late cousin, Hadley's apartment, in New Orleans with Eric, Sookie, Alcide, Dawn and Sam.

Faith and Jason's relationship had gone sour after my incident with Debbie so Jason refused to join us. He said he already did his duty of helping by turning the other way as Eric dumped a body. And, in a way, he did.

Eric and I had gone to ground here last night so we could be better…prepared for what I was about to do.

We were waiting patiently (sort of) for Faith to get back from the airport. Who was she picking up you ask? Well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

Riley, Sam, Willow and Giles.

Aka the end of my world.

Well, almost. Riley and Samantha already knew. Riley tried calling one day and I, obviously, didn't answer. He got nervous and called Dawn. She explained the situation as best as she could and he was pissed. I wouldn't have expected anything else, though.

Eventually, a few weeks after that, he and Samantha came into Fangtasia and I explained everything, in full detail. Riley kept his temper and now we're fine. A week ago, I sent them notice that I needed them in New Orleans on this very night and voila.

I heard footsteps coming up the hall followed by nervously excited chatter. I gulped several times.

"It's going to be okay, lover." Eric said softly, rubbing my back.

I inhaled and exhaled, unnecessarily, several times.

"Oh God, I think I'm going to hyperventilate."

"Buffy, you don't need to breathe. Stop breathing and you won't hyperventilate." Dawn said.

"Right. No breathing. No hyperventilating."

The door burst open and Faith came in, with the four others in tow.

"Honey, we're home!" she shouted.

Riley and Samantha nodded at me and then moved to the side. Willow came in, followed by Giles. They were wearing smiles and they looked happy. Then they looked up at me.

Of course they would've instantly known, just by looking at me. They had been trained for that. Their faces fell and then shifted over to Eric.

"Just come in and sit down, please. And don't say anything. Just let Buffy talk. Okay?" Sookie said.

They sat and I explained. Riley and Sam acted like they didn't already know. Giles was quiet for a very, very long time.

Willow, however, seemed to just accept my condition at face value and that was that. The only thing she said was "Xander's going to have a field day with this…"

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Giles spoke up.

"I know very well this isn't the life you wanted to live and I am terribly sorry that you have to live it now. I'm not at all happy about your new…lifestyle, but, as you said, it's better than you being dead."

I figure that was the best I was going to get out of him so I took it.

"Okay, well, now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, let's get to the reason why we're all here."

"And what's that?" Giles asked, carefully.

"The take down of one King William Thomas Compton."


End file.
